The Affair
by Harmony Sunsinger
Summary: Kagome is a photography student with two jobs and a not-so-perfect boyfriend. Inuyasha is her new boss with a life and wife that he can't stand. When the two meet, unexpected and unintended! sparks fly. Based on a true story.
1. Chapter One: The New Boss

A/N: Yay! New story! Let's get to it!  
Word to the wise: this story is based quite loosely on a true story. This is basically the way my son's father and I met and how our relationship progressed. The words are different, as are some of the attitudes, but the major stuff is what actually happened. Seriously, I live a soap opera.

And I said, "I've gotta be honest.  
I've been waiting for you all my life."  
For so long I thought I was asylum-bound,  
But just seeing you makes think twice.  
And being with you here makes me sane, I fear  
I'll go crazy if you leave me side.  
You've got wits, you've got looks,  
You've got passion, but are you brave enough to leave with me tonight?

- Dashboard Confessional, "As Lovers Go"

Chapter One: The New Boss.

Kagome sighed as she set the plates down on the table. She turned to walk away and felt one of the man's hands groping her backside. Her eye twitched, but she kept walking away. Once she was safely back in the kitchen, the head cook, Kaede, recognized the look on her face. "You really should stand up for yourself," she told her. Kagome shook her head. "Some other time," she replied, taking her apron off and glancing at the clock. It read 5:39. She groaned, rolling her eyes. "Here we go," she told Kaede. "Another long-ass night building up dumbass movies," she told the cook.

Kaede nodded in agreement. "At least they're not going to be as dumb as usual," she interjected as Kagome slipped into the freezer to change from her white button-down and black jeans into her blue jeans and t-shirt. She kept the white sneakers on, and Kaede smiled at the 20 year old when she emerged. "I don't see how you can do that without freezing yourself in a block of ice," she told the girl. Kagome laughed, a light, happy laugh. "It's a gift," she answered.

Her cell phone rang suddenly. She looked at the screen and smiled as she flipped it open. "Hey, baby," a deep voice purred sexily. Kagome grinned. "Hey, Kouga," she replied. "What's up?"

"Was wondering if you felt like staying over tonight," he breathed into the receiver. She smiled as she walked out the front door of the restaurant, bag slung over her shoulder. She waved and mouthed a quick 'Bye' to Kaede before climbing into her car. She turned the key, the car roaring to life, and she drove off to get to her next job.

Kagome turned Kouga down on her way to the theater, telling him that she would be working too late to be fit for what she knew he planned on doing to her. She giggled a little at his disappointed noises, but she had to get off quick; she was running late. It was five after six when she got to the movie theater, and she hurried up the back stairs and unlocked the second-floor back door. She ran into Sango, her best friend and the manager of the theater, who was lacing up one of the first movies. She shot Kagome a death look. "You're late," she said crossing, her arms over her breasts.

Kagome nodded. "I know," she told her. "Sorry."

Sango shook her head. "Look, it's okay," she told her friend. "Sorry for being kind of snappy. I'm just stressed, because we've got a new manager coming in tonight. We want everything to be looking good for him."

Kagome sneered. "What on earth does that have to do with me?" she asked her best friend. "I'm just the projectionist. I put the movies in the projector, I make sure everything is spotless and dust-free, I build up new movies and break old ones down. That's it. I really have no other purpose in this damned movie theater."

Sango groaned, rolling her eyes and placing her hands on her hips. "Kags, you know that isn't true," she told her. "You know more about this stupid place than really anyone else. You know how to close everything downstairs. You know how to work the cash register. You know how to take inventory and deal with the customers. I mean, Kagome, you could run this place if you wanted to."

"But you don't want to, do you?"

The two women turned to see a young man walk through the door. He stared at Kagome with golden eyes. His long, silver hair was tied back in a ponytail, and it shone brightly in the dim light of the projection booth. He grinned at them, a pair of pearly white fangs showing. When Kagome and Sango looked hard enough, they could see a pair of white dog's ears twitching on the top of his head.

"Who the hell are you?" Kagome cried out. "And what the hell are you doing in my projection booth?"

Sango sighed, rolling her eyes. "Kagome, meet Inuyasha Taisho," Sango told her friend. "He's the new manager. Mr. Taisho, this is our projectionist and lead trainer, Kagome Higurashi."

"Hm," he mused quietly, his eyes darting over her. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Higurashi." He stepped inside, looking around. "And it's nice to see you again, Miss Taijiya. I hope you don't mind being asked to step down?"

Sango clapped her hands. "Nope. Being assistant manager versus general manager will work wonders on my stress level. Plus, me and Kags here can spend mucho more quality time-o… together-o." She looked at Kagome and nodded. The other girl laughed loudly. Inuyasha chuckled with them. "Here, why doesn't everybody just… get to work?" he asked, heading toward the door. Sango started to follow him. "We'll all talk later on."

Kagome nodded. "Sure thing!"

Once the door was closed and she was alone, Kagome grabbed her Zune out of her bag and started up the tunes. She jammed to Coldplay, Taking Back Sunday, and Superbus while she built up "Meet the Robinsons."

Finally, when she was finished, she made her way down the inside stairs, careful not to trip. She hated taking the ones inside; they were too steep for her taste, but she couldn't go out the back. It was nearly midnight; who knows who would be waiting for her in that dark alley? She shivered thinking about it.

When she got down to the ground floor, she found the place deserted. All the popcorn had been swept up off the floor, the carpet had been vacuumed. The popcorn popper was sparkly clean in its corner, and the counters of the concession stand had been wiped spotless. Kagome spied a light shining from underneath the closed office door. She smiled and went up to it, not bothering to knock. She closed her hand on the doorknob, turned it, and the door opened. She saw Inuyasha sitting at the computer, typing away. He glanced up when she opened the door, and he gestured with one hand for her to come in. She did, and she shut the door behind her.

"To think," he said without turning to face her. "I used to run the inventory projects for over 10,000 electronics stores nationwide. And now... I'm a movie theater manager."

Kagome sat in a small swivel chair and shoved against the wall with her feet. The chair stopped rolling right beside Inuyasha. He looked away from his computer screen long enough to smirk at her. She smirked back.

"So why are you working here now?" she asked him.

He looked back at the computer, starting his typing again. "Because I have rent to pay, groceries to buy, a wife to suck the life out of me…" He grinned at her playfully. Kagome's heart dropped a little when she looked down at his left hand and saw that he did indeed wear a silver band on his ring finger. She couldn't say exactly why she felt this way; she shouldn't care if he had a wife at home. After all, she had a boyfriend - excuse me, fiance. She looked at her own engagment ring right then, really more of a glance. She still couldn't really believe that Kouga had proposed. He didn't seem like the marriage type, really. But she said yes, not sure of what she was getting herself into.

Inuyasha held his hand up right then, giving her a couple of spirit fingers to show off the ring. "Yea," he muttered, staring at it for a moment. "I can't believe it either."

Kagome tilted her head. "Is that a happy 'I can't believe it,' or a not-so-happy 'I can't believe it'?"

Inuyasha chuckled at her. She laughed a little with him. "I'll let you in on a little secret," he told her in a low voice. She leaned into him, listening carefully and grinning goofily. "I've been married to this woman for nearly ten years," he whispered, his eyes locked with hers. "And I have never been more miserable." He sat back in his chair, straightened himself, and started typing again.

Suddenly, Kagome's cell phone started to ring, and she jumped. She pulled it from her pocket and smiled at Inuyasha. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she told him. He smiled back, nodding, before she flipped the phone open and started for the front door. "Hey, Kouga-san…"

When she was gone, Inuyasha shook his head and tried to focus on his work. He only had two more reports to finish before he could go home. Home to where SHE was…

Speaking of the devil… the office phone began to ring right then. He sighed, recognizing the number as his own, and picked up. "Hey," he answered in a low, disgruntled tone. She didn't notice as she began blathering on about things he had no intention of listening to. He just grunted yes's and no's, and he basically ignored everything else in the conversation. By the end of it, he was saying "Love you, too. Bye," at the same time his last report was printing, finished, from the printer.

Inuyasha rubbed his face with his hands and prepared to go home, to sleep in the bed beside her, virtually alone. He just couldn't believe he had been dumb enough to return to Tokyo...

A/N: there you go, folks. I'm moving things along a bit faster than they moved in real life. There'll be some action in the next chappy; yea, that's how fast I'm moving. See ya next time for:

Chapter Two: The Proposal.


	2. Chapter Two: The Proposal

Chapter Two: The Proposal.

He laughed at the skeptical look on her face. "No, no," he told her, his hands held up in defense. "It's not that sort of proposal."

Kagome's face brightened, and she grinned at him. "I know," she said, waving her hand at him absentmindedly. She spun in her swivel chair, cackling maniacally. Sango and Inuyasha looked at each other. "Should we be worried?" Inuyasha asked her. She shrugged. "Hell, you tell me. You're closer to her now than I was."

It was true; in the past three months, Sango had only been working during the daytime as the assistant manager, and Kagome had her restaurant job during that time. She was only a projectionist during the evening, which was meant to be of help to Inuyasha. The manager had his hands full right now with running the downstairs portion of the theater; if he wanted, he could run both upstairs and downstairs, but he had to admit he rather like having Kagome nearby. On several occasions, she would come downstairs from her dark, second-floor lair to chat it up with the middle-aged half-demon.

She struck him as a bit of a recluse, staying upstairs in "her place," as Sango referred to it. But, one night, he was running a little late. He called ahead to his employees, who understood. When he finally made it, he walked in, expecting chaos and complete turmoil, kids running around his filthy lobby screaming their sugar-highs… But when he walked through the door, everything was clean and all the employees were doing their jobs like pro's. He looked around, and one of the employees pointed to the closed office door. He went to it, opening it… and there sat Kagome at the computer, typing up one of the nightly reports.

Inuyasha blinked, and the door creaked a little as he opened it further. She smiled at him, beckoning to him to come in. He shut the door behind him, locking it. She gave him a perplexed look. "What?" he asked her. "I like our privacy."

He remembered that day right then. Kagome was a natural born leader; she had had that movie theater running like a perfectly oiled machine when he got there. She was ten times better at running the place than he was. He had wondered why she didn't want to run it.

Sitting here with Sango now, asking Kagome how she would feel to be the theater's new assistant manager, Inuyasha figured that he would be finding out.

Sango was the one to propose the actual idea to her. Inuyasha just sat back and observed. Kagome was young, a good 20 years old. He knew that she loved her major, and she had a talent for it; he'd seen some of her work. She'd even asked him to participate in it a little, but he'd brushed it off politely. Kagome wanted him to help her with her self-portrait for her film photography class, but what she had in mind made him a little uneasy. But… not really uneasy in the bad sense of the term. More uneasy in the "you're an attractive young woman and I'd like to try to be a gentleman by completely avoiding any situation where I might take advantage of you" sense of the term.

The only problem he'd had with the self-portrait was that she'd wanted to do it… without a shirt. Jeans only, her back facing to him, sitting backwards in a chair in the lobby of their theater.

When he'd declined, she automatically assumed that it was his wife that posed the problem. He'd snorted at that, but she'd ignored him. 'Right,' he thought as he watched her and Sango talk now. 'Like that retard could change my mind about anything.'

He perked up when he heard Kagome's answer: "Okay," she said, nodding. She smiled brightly at them, and Inuyasha could swear the room brightened with her expression. "I'll do it. Especially if it'll piss off Naraku."

Inuyasha and Sango rolled their eyes and nodded, understanding completely. Naraku was the owner of the theater, and he was pretty much the big boss. He was also, like, 90 years old and a total pervert. Kagome had only met him three times before now, and she already didn't like him. Sango had had WAY more interaction with him than the other two, and she had an even worse opinion of him. But Inuyasha had already built up a tolerance to the quirky old man.

Kagome hadn't been able to put her finger directly on what made Inuyasha so different to her. He seemed like a likeable enough guy, and like him she did; he was one of the first people she'd called when she and Kouga had gotten into a major traffic accident on their way back to his place one night. He had been the one she talked/cried to when she and Kouga had had their last argument, the one where he had told her that he already felt emasculated by her, and that it wouldn't get any better as time went on and she started her own studio. He had been the one to whom she confessed what her guy friend - a friend that she had trusted - had done when she was a month from turning 15, thus ruining her opinion of men forever. He had completely understood; it actually explained a few things, as far as he was concerned. It explained her strange mood swings sometimes. They would be sitting in the office, chatting it up one minute; the next, Kagome would get up silently and just… leave. She would just walk out of the building, around to the back, where she would sit outside by herself, breathing in the cold evening air.

About a week after Sango announced that she would be leaving the theater and asked Kagome to take her place, Inuyasha decided to go outside to sit with Kagome. When he got around to the back of the building, she was sitting in her normal space, her back leaning against the brick walls. He sat beside her. She didn't move away, nor did she move closer. He lit up a smoke, which managed to pull a reaction from her.

Kagome's nose scrunched a little at the smell of the smoke. She turned her head and glared at him. "You're gonna die, you know that?"

Inuyasha sputtered a little, the smoke expelling from his lungs. He chuckled and grinned at her. "Really?" he asked. "I know I am. Everyone does eventually."

She groaned, sitting up straighter and shook her head. "I know that. But… you're going to die much faster if you continue to do that." She gestured to the burning cigarette between his fingers. Inuyasha smiled and blew smoke in her face playfully. She waved her hands in front of her, wafting the smoke away from her. "Geez!" she cried out. She glared at him.

"What?" he asked her.

"I'm allergic to smoke of any kind," she informed him. "Cigarette smoke, burned food smoke, exhaust smoke…"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at her. "I kind of figured all of mankind was allergic to exhaust. Just not really allergic, more like it's toxic." He nodded. Kagome smiled brightly and nodded with him. "Yea, you're right," she agreed.

He looked at the sunset. It was a gorgeous mix of dark blues, yellows, pinks and reds; he just sat there next to Kagome, breathing, taking it all in. She smiled when she saw his passive expression. "So," she said, tapping her fingers against her knee. She looked at him very seriously right then.

Inuyasha knew that he could drown in those dark, chocolate eyes of hers. He could fall into them and never pull himself out, and that would be just fine with him. His hand twitched as he was nearly overcome by an overwhelming urge to reach up and push her long, ebony hair behind her ear. He stilled his hand and sighed.

She smiled nervously. "If I told you something…something very personal. You wouldn't, like, laugh at me or anything… would you?"

Inuyasha loved the big-eyed, puppy look she gave him. It was so sweet; he was powerless in that gaze. He shook his head [figuratively, I mean, not literally] right then. 'She's only a child compared to me,' he berated himself. 'And, dammit, I have a wife at the apartment. I shouldn't be thinking these kinds of things.'

'And yet you are,' he countered. He looked her right in the eye. "What is it?"

Kagome breathed deeply. "Okay," she said. "I'm going to just come out and say it so I won't chicken out like the big wuss that I am." She looked at him again with those big, brown eyes. "I have feelings for you."

Inuyasha pulled back a little and stared at her. He had had no idea that those words were what would next escape those lips; how could he? She was a girl, and he was a hanyou, 60 years old, yet still as physically young and spry as a man her own age.

They were silent for a moment.

He honestly didn't know what to say.

Inuyasha growled into her mouth as her tongue ran over his fangs and his tongue. Over the past month, he couldn't keep his hands off her. Ever since that night… after she told him how she felt about him, he confessed to feeling the same way. It was as if the girl had opened a floodgate within him; he had never felt these things before. It was completely alien to him to feel so much passion, so much wanting, all for just one small, brown-eyed cutie with a big smile.

He rolled Kagome over, pinning her to the floor. They were upstairs in the projection booth; it had only been two days since the projectionist had been upgraded to assistant manager. Technically, Kagome was still his employee; what they were doing was wrong, Inuyasha knew. She knew it, too; he could feel it.

It was even more wrong that they were about to have sex on the cold, tile floor while Naraku lurked about downstairs, surveying his business.

"You have no idea what you're getting into," he murmured into her throat as his lips teased and sucked along the base of it. He let his tongue run along her collarbone, and he felt himself go hard at the soft sound of her whimper. Inuyasha pulled back to look her in the eye. Their gaze locked, and he went on. "I'm so much older than you," he told her. "And I'm married."

She rolled her eyes. "Yea, to a wife you can't stand," she shot back. It was true, he knew; he'd explained the entire thing to her barely two months after they met. He had dated Kikyo for only a year when he decided that he was ready to exit the relationship. When he attempted to break things off with her, she threatened him with suicide. Unable to bear having someone else's death on his conscience, Inuyasha stupidly agreed to marry her, thinking that they could be divorced within a year. That year turned to two, then three, then five… before he knew it, they'd been married together for nearly ten years. He'd slept with her probably ten times throughout those years.

But Kagome…

She made a noise at his comments about why she shouldn't be getting involved with him. "I don't care," she breathed, and she grabbed his head and shoved her mouth to his hungrily. He responded immediately, closing his hands around her breasts. He could feel her hardened nipples through her very thin, white work shirt, and he rubbed his thumbs across them gently. Kagome arched her back, her body colliding with him. The sexual tension was more than Inuyasha could bear, and he quickly unbuttoned her shirt, working it off her shoulders gently, and he tossed it aside. After only a moment, her bra was across the room as well, and the fondling continued. When he had had enough of only feeling her breasts with his hands, he scooted himself along the floor, bringing his head down to meet them. Kagome moaned rather loudly when she felt his lips latch on to her left nipple. Inuyasha began to suck and nip at it, and as his mouth was currently distracted by her soft bosom, his hands found themselves a new playground.

Kagome didn't even notice when he worked her wet panties down her legs, but she sure noticed when his claw flicked her clit gently. She sat up suddenly, her mind a blank after the explosion in her nether region. As Inuyasha switched over to the other nipple, he played with her nub, tugging on it and rubbing it. Kagome's breathing became heavy and ragged as her orgasm approached. He sensed this, and he slid two fingers inside her as he continued to thumb her clit. The feeling of his mouth and tongue on her breast combined with the torture being exerted on her poor nub and his fingers sliding in and out of her rapidly was too much for her, and Kagome's toes curled as she cried out her climax. Inuyasha hurriedly covered her mouth with his lips so she would not alert the entire building to their shenanigans.

When she recovered and could think once again, Kagome looked Inuyasha right in the eye. His amber orbs smiled at her teasingly as he licked his index claw. "You taste so sweet," he murmured sensually, brushing his lips against her ear. She shuddered, wanting more…

But there were sudden footsteps on the stairs. Their eyes widened and their jaws dropped in shock when they heard Naraku's drawling becoming louder. "Holy shit!" Kagome squeaked, grabbing her shirt and throwing it on. She hurriedly buttoned it and fixed her hair into a messy pony, and Inuyasha did the same with his hair, wiping his still wet digits on his jeans. When Naraku reached the projection booth, the two were working together to lace one of the movies. The owner nodded and began talking to Inuyasha, and Kagome continued lacing.

A/N: Ha. Yea, that was a fun day. I hated our boss. He was such a perv and a douche. Figured Naraku fit him better than anybody else would. And… wow. Did that scene bring up some memories?

By next week:

Chapter Three: The Joke Period.


	3. Chapter Three: The Joke Period

A/N: Okay, a little bit of ouch from that last review. Remember now, folks, this based on a true story, my past relationship with my ex. He really WAS married when I first started seeing him. And I was engaged to "Kouga" when I first met "Inuyasha," but I broke it off before "Inuyasha" and I became intimate. Telling me that he felt emasculated by me and that he only proposed so I wouldn't dump him the next day. Anyway, by this point, Kouga and Kagome aren't together anymore. So… on with the story.

Oh, and I keep trying to fix the paragraph thing, but my laptop is being a bitch right now, folks. Sorry.

Also… you people seriously need to watch "Teeth." It is the most hilarious, morbid, graphic movie ever!! And it's awesome. Dawn is my new hero. Anyway. On with the tale.

Chapter Three: The Joke Period.

Kagome and Miroku stared at Inuyasha. "Oh my Gods, man!" Miroku cried out. "I cannot believe that you just made a JFK crack!"

"That's not any better than your Irish joke," the hanyou shot back. Kagome shot to her feet, bouncing with her two male friends happily. Sango walked in right then, just off of her new job. "Hey, guys!" she said. "I like the Irish joke."

"I haven't heard it yet," Kagome said. Miroku grinned his perverted, boyish grin. Sango smacked his arm playfully, but she grinned as well. "Go ahead and tell her," she told her boyfriend. "You know you want to."

"So," Miroku starts off. "An Irishman and his son were sitting together in a pub in Ireland, sharing a pint…"

Inuyasha caught Kagome's eye. She grinned as she caught the lustful glint in his amber eyes, and she stepped over to get closer to him. Sango noticed this, and she linked arms with Miroku, throwing her other arm around his neck and noogied him playfully. "Go," she mouthed to the pair. Kagome and Inuyasha dashed for the stairs, laughing at the sound of Miroku: "But I wasn't finished with the damn joke yet!"

As soon as they were in the upstairs office, the door slammed shut and locked tight, he grabbed her face and locked his lips to hers, savoring the sweet taste. He slowly worked off her work shirt, and she worked off his. Her bright yellow bra was soft as he cupped his hand around her left breast, and he pressed his face into her hair, brushing his nose against her ear. Inuyasha felt Kagome's lips part against his neck as she pressed her naked body against him; he unbuckled her black pants and let them drop to the floor, leaving her standing there, pressed against him, wearing only a pair of bright yellow panties. In no time at all, his own work pants were gone, his white underwear across the room as well.

He licked his lips as he surveyed her. He felt his cock become rock hard, and he couldn't control himself with her anymore. Inuyasha rushed forward, his hands grasping her hips. He pushed her up against the nearest wall, and he kissed her roughly and passionately as he moved Kagome along the wall. They finally found the desk, and he sat her on the top of it, working himself between her legs and sliding her panties off at the same time. His hands cupped her firm ass, and he rubbed his thumb against her skin, loving its softness. His golden orbs met her chocolate gaze, and he stopped himself. It was only for a moment, but the fight between his passion and his self-control nearly tore him in two. But he couldn't just… "Are you sure you want this?" he asked her.

They had been running in circles around this subject for a few weeks. She had met his wife Kikyo, his brother Sesshomaru and his sister-in-law Rin. She had even met his mother Izayoi and his father Inutaisho. He had met her own mother briefly when Mrs. Higurashi brought Kagome's little brother Souta to see a movie. They had made out upstairs, christened the makeup table [the one they used to put together the movies]. It was now officially known as the "makeout table."

Kagome also paused. She looked him up and down; they were about to cross that line. That was the line that she had never thought that she would come up against. She was a good girl at heart; she wasn't a slut or anything. She'd been with four guys before this point, and she'd been in relationships with all of them. Well, all but one, but he was a close friend anyway.

But… Inuyasha was a good man. He was a good, MARRIED man. She stared into his eyes. Those big, beautiful amber eyes, full of hope and hurt. He was sweet and gentle and witty… and he was unhappy when he wasn't with her. She could… she could just feel it when he held her hand. She could feel it when he kissed her cheek.

Kagome made her decision then. She smiled softly at him, exhaled quietly, and ran her fingers down from his cheek to his hips. Inuyasha gasped loudly when he felt her small fingers wrap around his erection. Her eyes locked with his, and she smiled again at the look of sheer love and admiration on his face. "I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life," she murmured before kissing him again.

As they kissed, his hands made their way to her breasts. He rubbed them, thumbing her hardened nipples. She moaned into his mouth, and he plunged his hard cock inside her. She cried out at the feeling of him sinking deep into her. He kept one hand rubbing on her breast and his other came down to grab her hip. He pulled her closer, sliding his erection out of her until the tip came to rest at her entrance once more. Inuyasha groaned when he slid himself back inside her. His other hand came down to her hips, and he gripped her tightly as he quickened his pace. The sound of their bodies slamming together forced Kagome over the edge, and she moaned loudly as her first orgasm rocked her body. Inuyasha cried out at the feeling of her wet inner walls clenching around his cock, and he let his seed spill inside her.

Inuyasha's rough hands moved from her hips to her shoulders, and he rubbed her back lightly. Kagome leaned into him, her face pressing into his neck. He stood there, holding her in his arms, and he smiled as he whispered something into her hair.

She sat up a little and looked him in the eye. "What did you say?"

He smiled back at her and rubbed her cheek with his thumb. "Don't worry about it."

It was nearly time for the two of them to get to work. They'd been laying around all morning, watching "Family Guy" and "Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law." Inuyasha's wife Kikyo had left for work at seven that morning; she worked an hour away as a mobile phone salesman. Kagome couldn't believe it.

"She settles for a cruddy job in a mall selling cell phones for seven bucks an hour?" she asked incredulously. "And she's how old?"

Inuyasha sputtered in his Dr. Pepper, laughing. "She's thirty one."

"And I'm twenty, and I help manage a movie theater," Kagome shot back, sitting up. He smiled at the sight; she was wearing nothing but one of his long sleeve, white, button down work shirts. Her bare legs were curled underneath her, and her skin practically glowed in the soft sunlight spilling through the curtains. He fought the urge to reach other and rub her soft, endless legs; he knew that it would lead to activities that would make them both late for work.

Kagome took another bite out of her pancakes. She turned her head and locked eyes with Inuyasha again. "I'm your mid-life crisis, aren't I?"

He sputtered once again, his cheeks flaming a bright pink. "What?" he asked her, chuckling a little.

She sighed. "I just… can't help feeling as if I am your mid-life crisis in a way," she told him. She set her fork down on the plate and stood, pulling her black work pants on. When she was dressed, socks, shoes and all, she nodded to him. "I'm going to need a little more time to… think things over." She pulled on the door and disappeared down the stairs. He stood there, wearing only a pair of blue jeans, staring at the closed door.

"But I love you," he murmured, his pup's ears flattening against his hair, crestfallen.

Kagome rolled her eyes and groaned inwardly as Kouga paid for the movie tickets. She'd called him, telling him she'd give him a chance to redeem himself. He'd practically jumped for joy and run to her side. They were seeing "Transformers," which Kagome was very excited about. Kouga wasn't really a "Transformers" person, but he'd do practically anything to be beside Kagome right now. Even if it meant sitting through two hours of funny alien names and deep, heroic voices. The action was good, and so was the storyline.

About halfway through, Kagome wanted more popcorn. Not wanting to be away from her for a single moment, Kouga stood and went with her to get a refill. They were standing in a very long line in front of Miroku's register when the other one opened up. Kagome was reading a mini-brochure about movies soon coming out, and Kouga grinned when he looked over and saw that it was the manager that had the hots for Kagome. Without looking up from the brochure, Kagome allowed Kouga to scoot her over into the next line. She frowned deeply when she felt Kouga's arms settle around her waist and his chin rest on her shoulder. She looked up from her reading finally, and when she did, her brown eyes met Inuyasha's.

She gasped, and her eyes darted downward, resting on his hands. Kagome tilted her head a little when she noticed that Inuyasha was clenching the counter so hard that his knuckles were turning white. But when she looked back up at his face, he just smiled at her gently.

Suddenly, she was very aware of where they were and of what was happening. She turned her head and glared at Kouga, pulling out of his arms. She turned completely and gave him a disgusted look. "I can't believe you," she mumbled, shaking her head a little. She started to walk away.

Kouga grabbed her arm a little roughly. "Kagome, where are you going?"

In a flash, Inuyasha was there beside her, yanking Kouga away from her. He snarled at the young wolf youkai. "You'd do well to keep your hands off her," he threatened. Kouga glared Inuyasha, who pointed to the door. "Now get out of my movie theater!" he roared. Kouga rushed out the door, waving a quick goodbye to Kagome.

Kagome whirled on the hanyou. "What did you do that for?" she demanded. Inuyasha watched her leave angrily.

He turned and saw Miroku nodding at him approvingly. "You did a good thing there, my man," he told his friend and coworker. "She doesn't see it now, but she will soon. You're a great friend to her, Inuyasha." Miroku turned away to fill another order.

Inuyasha nodded and went into the downstairs office, locking the door behind him. The employees, including the normally over-curious Miroku, left him to his thoughts for the rest of the evening.

It was nearly midnight when the phone rang, and Inuyasha was more than a little pleased to see Kagome's name on the caller ID. He answered with a fairly smooth "Hey."

"Hiya," she replied, her voice perky like he… well, liked.

There was a pregnant pause in the conversation. "I'm sorry…" Inuyasha started, "about earlier. He just… shouldn't touch you like that."

"What did it feel like?" she asked him suddenly.

"What did what feel like?"

She hesitated. "What did you feel when you saw him standing there, holding me?"

Inuyasha didn't answer immediately. Sure, he knew the answer; seeing that jerk standing there, smirking at him over her shoulder… He hated the thought of that pretentious bastard letting his lips touch her, or his hands… or any of his body parts. He smiled, but he knew Kagome couldn't see it. "I wanted to jump over the counter and rip him off of you." He was silent another long moment. "I wanted him away from… from what I want."

Kagome took the bait. "What exactly is it that you want?"

"I want you." Her breath caught when she heard his direct words. "I want to be around you. You're… soft. And you're intelligent. And creative. And… soft."

She giggled a little. "You said that one already."

He laughed with her. "I know. I'm wanting to… emphasize it."

"What does it even mean?" she wanted to know.

"It means that you are… soft." Inuyasha laughed again and spun his chair a little. Talking to her made him a little restless. 'Wonder why?' he thought. "Just leave it at that. I'm no good at the whole words thing. It tends to lead to more words, which tends to lead to me sounding like an enormous dumbass."

She laughed again, this time more loudly.

Inuyasha loved the sound of it, and he looked forward to hearing it several more times throughout his life.

A/N: Yea, that actually happened. Of course, he didn't really hurt "Kouga"; he just sat on the other side of the counter and fumed. And then me and "Kouga" broke up a little while after, and me and "Inuyasha" got back together. And THIS time, I really didn't care that he was older and he had a wife. He was just… perfect for me. Anyway. The relationship REALLY begins… NEXT chapter!

This next time: Chapter Four: The Two-Week Vacation.


	4. Chapter Four: The Two Week Vacation

A/N: Ok. More explaining. I knew that this would be complicated. I was a teenager, he was in his early thirties, his wife was in her late twenties… I'm trying to tie Inuyasha's hanyou-ism in with it, and I was trying to cover up the actual ages, but it seems a little important now. I mean, my rep is at stake! I can't have anyone thinking that I'm a giant pervert who sleeps with really old men. He was… oldER. Not old. And he certainly didn't LOOK old; he looked like he was in his mid-twenties. And that played along with Inuyasha; as a hanyou, he may be 60, but he only appears to be about Kagome's age. It still weirds her out that he's so much older than her, though.

Oh, and we talked last night. And today a little. And last night… well, let's just say I got some lemon inspiration. FINALLY!

Chapter Four: The Two-Week Vacation.

Inuyasha kissed Kagome lightly on the cheek. She batted at him playfully with an open hand, but she grinned a girly grin at him. "Sheesh," she said, looking over the counter at the parking lot. The entire front wall of the lobby was just a giant window with four doors, two entrances and two exits. It was a little dark and rainy outside; not much sunshine to lighten their moods, but the pair weren't much for caring about privacy these days.

They were both working behind the counter, trying to get the place up and ready for business for the day. It was Kagome's last day before she left on a two week vacation to the beach with her mom and brother.

He sighed and gave her a long look. Inuyasha didn't even need to tell her that he was more than a little upset to see her go. He didn't want to be alone in this awful place with only Kikyo to look forward to at his home. He also knew, though, that she'd been working hard and she deserved a little R&R.

Inuyasha just wished that she could spend those two weeks of no school and no work with him…

He stood there and watched her as she fixed the nacho trays and put together the popper. He loved the way her ass made that little shake as she walked away from him. He daydreamed about her a lot. He wanted her all to himself. And he did have her all to himself these days. But…

He was still technically and legally with Kikyo. They still kissed each other goodbye. They still said the fake "I love you"s at the end of their phone conversations. They still slept in the same bed every night after he got off the phone with Kagome.

But he couldn't touch her. He had Kagome now to look forward to; everything with Kikyo was just a formality. He just… was waiting for the right moment to tell her that he wanted a divorce. To be honest, he had wanted a divorce for some time, a fact that he had related to Kagome over a month before their relationship even began. He'd told her the story of the night he caught Kikyo red-handed about to have sex with another man, but when Kagome asked if that was the reason he wanted to divorce her, he shook his head. He never wanted to marry the woman; she was dull, and she didn't use her brain very often. She was very dependent of him, as well. One night, when he was outside talking to Kagome, Kikyo had called him on his cell, and when he answered, she'd asked him the most inane question he had ever heard: "Should I go spend the night at my friend's house?"

He told Kagome about it, of course. The younger woman got a real laugh from that. "I hope you know," she told him, "that I don't even know if I WANT to get married. To anyone."

Inuyasha had raised one eyebrow at her skeptically. "Really," he'd stated in a low, disbelieving tone. 'How could a woman not want to get married?' he'd thought. 'I always imagined it was just… hardwired into their central nervous system or something.' But his mistress shook her head and smiled sweetly. "I might. If I ever DO, though, I will not be calling my husband and ASKING if I can go do something. Hell, I might not even tell him; I'll just send him a text saying, 'Going on a weekend trip to Cabo with my buds. See you Monday!' or something like that."

He grinned at her on this rainy day as he remembered that conversation. Inuyasha loved the fire in her. She was a fighter, a real firecracker, and he adored it. Sure, Kagome could be a real bitch in an argument, but he could deal with it. He could deal with the bitch if it meant he'd get his firecracker.

Kagome had even been able to quit her waiting job at the restaurant when she got bumped up to be the new, improved Ass Man. The owner had given her a high-end hourly rate, and she clocked about 60-70 hours a week at the theater. Inuyasha loved it; he had been afraid that, if she became the assistant manager, they wouldn't be able to spend much time together. But she was always with him; she came in on her nights off to help him build films and break them down upstairs, and the two normally ended up on the floor or against the wall [or on the Makeout Table].

Inuyasha didn't know how he could possibly survive two weeks without Kagome.

When Kagome turned back around right then, she saw Inuyasha standing there, holding a small, black box. Her eyes didn't need to go popping out of her head, though; it wasn't near small enough to be a ring box. It was actually about medium sized. When he handed it to her, she looked it over and saw the label and picture on the lid. It was the new mp3 player that had just come out: the Microsoft Zune. It was sleek and black, and it had a huge screen and very manageable buttons. She took it out and listened to some of the songs he had downloaded for her. She even sat and watched on of the videos. When asked why he got it for her ["Because it must've cost a bundle!" Kagome gushed], Inuyasha simply smiled and told her, "I thought you'd like to have something to entertain you while your stuck in the car with your family."

Kagome squealed, ecstatic, and mumbled a completely insincere, "This is too much, I can't accept this," even as Inuyasha was giving her the "Don't-Argue-With-Me-I'm-Older" look. So the young woman just grinned and excitedly thanked him.

Inuyasha groaned and rubbed his face. It had been four days since he had last seen Kagome, the night before she left for her vacation, and he was out here in the parking lot of his apartment building, lying on the hood of his black 1999 Pontiac Firebird. He pulled out his cell phone, decided silently that near midnight was a good enough time as any to call his dear insomniac, and dialed her number.

He got a breathy, "Hey," right after the first ring.

Inuyasha smirked to himself. "Hey, gorgeous," he murmured into the mouthpiece. He could imagine her, stretched out in front of him, her long, naked legs running like smooth, soft, tanned, endless rivers. He could taste her sweetness; he remembered the feel of her juices running over his tongue, her warmth running down his chin and smearing on his nose. He could hear her cries of pleasure, her passionate moans, begging him for more…

"So what'd you do today?"

Kagome's voice broke his fantasy, and he expelled a quiet, hopeless breath as he tried to ignore his throbbing erection. "Okay, I guess," he replied. "Worked all afternoon and all night. Damn, is it hard to keep that theater running for twelve hours straight!"

Inuyasha heard her sigh on the other end. "You know that you could've gone home for a couple hours."

"What?" he practically exploded. "And let MIROKU run the joint? I think not."

She laughed; Inuyasha loved that laugh. "Silly. He's not so careless that he'd intentionally burn the place down. He loves his paychecks too much for that."

"He could find another job. A better one, in fact. Kid's got the smarts for it."

Kagome rolled her eyes at that one. Miroku was her age, so did that mean that she too was just a child to him? She knew that that wasn't the case, would never BE the case. But it still hit some low-lying nerve for her. She also knew, though, that Miroku and Inuyasha had become fast friends, and they were about as close as she and Sango. Kagome had once brought up the idea of the four of them going on a double date, but Inuyasha claimed they "needed to stay at least a little secretive about their relationship," and Sango shot it down, saying that Miroku wasn't yet trained enough to go out in public.

Kagome could understand that. Both of them, as a matter of fact.

Neither of them spoke for a while. They just… enjoyed each other's presence over the phone. But she knew that Inuyasha needed to be up in the morning for work. He said it first though; she only had to agree, and he was gone. The breath on the other end of the phone disappeared, and she hung up. Kagome watched the little phone for a long time, and then she finally rolled over and went to sleep.

The first thing she did when she arrived back in town was to go straight to him. He was at work, she knew; it was nearly five in the afternoon. The theater was shut down for an hour, and there was only Miroku guarding the snack bar. When Kagome walked in, Inuyasha stopped as he stared at her.

The first thing he did when he was finished staring was march right over to her, grab her arm roughly, and practically drag her up the stairs to their upstairs office. The moment they were behind closed doors, he stripped her and himself, rubbing his hands all over her soft body. She was like liquid fire to the touch, especially when he used his fingers to part her dripping folds. As Inuyasha ran his hands up and down her smooth, golden legs, he snapped her legs apart suddenly and began to torturously tease her nub with his tongue. She writhed on top of the desk, and she bucked her hips into his mouth, her fingers grabbing at his long, silver hair, and Kagome cried out for more. Taking on hand from her luscious legs, Inuyasha continued his oral torture, swirling his tongue around her clit, and he slowly slid two fingers between her nether lips. Kagome cried out and bucked again, and he slowly began pumping his fingers in and out of her, and he allowed his fingers' pace to quicken with her screams and moans. Finally, Kagome was overcome by her first orgasm, and Inuyasha her from the bottom of her folds to the top, toward her pelvis. He pulled his fingers from her and licked them clean, staring at her intensely as he did. He held Kagome's gaze as he situated himself between her legs.

It was as if she was in a trance; she couldn't look away from his eyes. She didn't even notice as he came to be between her long legs. The trance was finally broken when Kagome felt his rock hard cock sliding inside her, and she shuddered with overpowering pleasure. Her short fingernails clawed at his shoulders, and he grabbed her hips to drive himself further inside her. She licked her lips and rested her chin on his shoulder; she closed her eyes and whispered into Inuyasha's ear: "More."

He slid his erection most of the way out of her, then slid it right back in. She clawed at him again, and he gasped when he felt her walls tighten around him, drawing him in. He pulled back to look her in the eye; his expression was surprised. Hers wasn't. "I didn't know you could-" He gasped loudly and his eyes rolled into the back of his head when she did it again. He nearly lost himself. When he opened his eyes again, she was watching him hungrily. "More," she whispered, demanding.

Inuyasha thrust into her, and his thrusts quickened until he was pounding into Kagome. She bucked her hips wildly to meet his, and she arched her back with her next climax, screaming, "Fuck me! Oh, Gods, Inuyasha! Fuck me!"

He felt himself coming to his own orgasm, and he grabbed her hips and glued her against him as he spilled his warm seed inside her. She grabbed his hair and bucked one more time, finishing her own orgasm before collapsing in a sweaty heap in his arms. They stayed there a while, her sitting bare-assed on the desk and he standing, his arms wrapped protectively around her.

He murmured into her hair once more.

This time, Kagome smiled and murmured back, "I love you too."

A/N: there you go. Shit, am I tired. Please, review all you like. I enjoy hearing from you. And that's a true part; I lie not. Welcome-Back Sex is better than Angry Sex and Make-Up Sex combined.

Next Time:

Chapter Five: The Night of No Return.


	5. Chapter Five: The Night of No Return

A/N: So. Hope y'all liked that lemon in the last chapter, cause my inspiration won't be coming again anytime soon. We had another huge argument last night over some very idiotic subjects. So… yea. Maybe more inspiration. There might be some lime or citrus in this one, but it'll mostly be for the plot. This is a big, important chapter, and all of these things really happened. So, here we go.

I could sleep,  
But when I wake here, you'd still be gone.  
And you're my air.  
I could breathe,  
If you would stay here another song,  
So I could stay…

- Yellowcard.

Chapter Five: The Night of No Return.

"No, it's been a pretty decent night," Miroku said. Inuyasha's sigh sounded hollow over the phone. "I mean, I don't mean to worry you," he went on, "but she's been a little… well, not quite herself tonight."

"What do you mean?"

Miroku watched as Kagome slowly made her way from the restroom back to the office, shutting the door behind her quietly. He shook his head and sighed into the phone. "She doesn't really seem to be feeling well. She seems exhausted and lethargic. I haven't seen her crack a single smile all day today."

At his apartment, Inuyasha frowned. He didn't like the sound of that. Kagome was usually very vibrant and energetic. "Maybe she's just not feeling well?"

"Oh, I'm sure of that," Miroku shot back. "But that's the thing about Kagome; she's hardly ever sick enough for it to dampen her mood and temperament. She yelled at me today because there wasn't a pen on my register."

Inuyasha raised one eyebrow at that one. That did seem a little out of the ordinary… but Kagome had always been the most unpredictable person he had ever met. He looked at the clock; it was almost a quarter past ten. "I'll be right there," he mumbled, and he flipped his cell shut and got to his feet.

As he was dressing, Kikyo asked him where he was going so late. "Work," he replied. "Kagome's not feeling well; I'm going to go see if she needs help closing or something. I might just send her home and finish it myself." He kissed her cheek lightly. "Don't wait up." He pulled on the doorknob and disappeared into the cool, dark night.

As soon as he was out of the apartment, Kikyo made a face and reached for the phone.

))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

In just a few minutes, Inuyasha was walking through the front doors of the theater. Miroku stood behind the counter, waiting on a customer. Sango stood nearby, waiting to chat it up with her boyfriend. The cashier pointed to the inside stairs. "She went up to lace the next movie," he told his friend. Inuyasha nodded and thanked him, disappearing up the stairs himself.

When he got to the top, he noticed that the movie hadn't been started, and it usually only took Kagome a couple of minutes to lace it up. He checked his watch as he turned the corner. "Kagome, what are you-"

Inuyasha stopped dead in his tracks. His lips parted a little as he stood, frozen, staring down at Kagome, who was lying very still, sprawled on the cold tile floor beside the projector. He dove at her, collapsing onto his knees hard enough to leave bruises, and he cried out "Kagome!" as he picked her up in his arms and tried to wake her. Miroku, hearing his distressed yell, came bounding up the stairs, Sango in tow.

"Oh my Gods," Miroku murmured, grabbing the phone. He was about to dial 911 when Kagome started to come to, and Sango stopped him. "Don't, baka," she told him in a stern tone. "It's a side-effect of the pills!"

"The pills?" Inuyasha asked as he helped Kagome slowly sit up. "You mean her birth control?"

"The doctor warned her that there might be side-effects," Sango started to explain. "There might be cramping, spotting, extra-painful menstrual cycles, dizziness, high-blood pressure, fainting – I mean, the list goes on and on."

"If it's so dangerous, why'd they give it to her?" Inuyasha growled through clenched teeth, his eyes flashing dangerously in the dim light.

Kagome waved her hand at him. "It's all right," she told him, her voice quiet. "I quit taking it this afternoon; that's probably why I feel like crap. I quit taking it because it was making me feel dizzy, and I fainted like this the other day, too. I'm going to the doctor's tomorrow morning; they said they'll give me a new prescription to try."

Inuyasha nodded and kissed her ear softly. "That's my girl," he told her. "Still, you should have called me. I'd have taken care of all this up here."

"What about Kikyo?" she asked him seriously.

"Keh!" he shot back. "Kikyo can go mind her own business! I'm not putting you in any danger over my stupid wife!" Everyone looked at him. He chuckled. "That came out wrong."

"Up you go," Sango said, helping Kagome to her feet. "Inuyasha, if you don't mind closing, I'll just go ahead and take Kagome home now. I doubt she's in any shape to drive."

Standing, Inuyasha agreed. They all made their ways downstairs, and Sango left with Kagome, leaving Kagome's car in the parking lot.

Kagome was in a very bad mood when she was leaving the doctor's office the next morning. She'd woken up very cranky, because she'd stayed up late the night before, after Sango took her home. Around midnight, long after Inuyasha and Miroku had finished closing and left to go home, Sango had brought Kagome back up to the theater to pick up her car, now that Kagome was feeling better.

She also hadn't been very happy about having Inuyasha open the theater for her; she felt so dependent. She hated feeling like she depended on anyone. She'd also gotten some pretty bad news at the doctor's; when the nurse took her blood pressure, they discovered the birth control she'd been trying had driven her to prehypertension. She rolled her eyes as she walked out the front door of the office, going toward her car. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and flipped it open. "Hey, Inuyasha," she greeted him. "I'm on my way. I'll just need to change when I get in there."

"Something happened," he said.

Kagome stopped for a second; a bad feeling just suddenly crept up her spine. "What?" she dared to ask.

She heard him sigh through the receiver. "Not over the phone. Just… get up here. We need to discuss something."

Kagome flipped the phone shut, climbed into her car, and raced to the theater. When she got there, she made her way straight for the downstairs office, where she found Inuyasha waiting for her, typing on the computer. She slammed the door shut and locked it, causing her hanyou lover to jump in his seat. He spun around and blinked at her as she set her bag down and sat in the other swivel chair, facing him. "So?" she asked him. "What's going on?"

Inuyasha sighed once more and licked his lips. His throat had gone dry upon seeing her face, and he wasn't quite sure how to start this off. It was a lot to tell her, but she needed to know, so he'd need to just come out and say it. "Kikyo was spying on me last night."

Kagome gave him a puzzled look. "Spying on you? What do you mean?"

He sighed once more; he realized that he'd been doing that more today than he usually did. "She asked her younger sister, a girl about your age named Kaede, to come up here to the theater and watch the place. To watch me."

Kagome's jaw dropped when it hit her. "She knows."

He waved his hands in defense and shook his head. He hopped to his feet and began to pace to try to calm himself. "No," he told her. "She thought she knew. So she asked Kaede to watch the theater last night, which she did for a good long while. Apparently, Kikyo's been suspicious of us for a good month or two now. Last night, she finally worked up the nerve to do something about it, the crazy wench."

"So she was spying on you."

"And you," Inuyasha replied. "Kaede sat outside the theater for a while, watching. She never saw you in here with me because Sango had already taken you home by that time, but she was mighty confused about your car being here. So she left, and she came back a little while later, after Sango had dropped you off. She saw you locking the front doors and getting into your car, leaving." An angry look crossed over Kagome's face as he continued, "She followed you down the main road until you turned off on your country road to get to the shrine outside the city limits. Then she turned around and went back to her mother's place. Kikyo had just hung up the phone with her mother when I came in the door, and she confronted me."

Kagome was a little afraid to hear his answer to her question: "What did you tell her?"

He just shrugged. "The truth. That she's a crazy, paranoid wench who knows nothing about you, and that Sango took you home early last night because you were too ill to drive yourself."

"So she doesn't know about us?" Kagome asked hopefully.

Inuyasha smiled at his young lover. "She has no idea," he replied. "Oh, and I told her that I want a divorce."

Kagome nearly exploded with happiness.

A/N: Wow, am I tired. So, there it was. Sorry there wasn't any lemon; I'm all lemoned out for tonight.


	6. Chapter Six: The Something

A/N: By the way, in case any of you are wondering, that's what really happened. And I got so pissed off that that girl had followed me practically to my house that I sent his wife an angry email saying how big a coward she was, and I sent one to her sister that said exactly: "If you ever follow me anywhere again, I will pull over to the side of the road, drag you by your hair out of your car, and pummel you into the asphalt. Have a nice day."

Also, I didn't leave a teaser at the end of the last one with the title for this next chapter because I couldn't come up with a title. Nothing fits; I mean, what do you call this, what I am about to relate to you? It's something; I'm just not sure what.

*WARNING* This chapter contains rape, mention of suicide, and mention of drug and alcohol abuse. If you feel uncomfortable with these subjects, DO NOT CONTINUE. GO STRAIGHT TO THE NEXT CHAPTER. The story recounted in this chapter really happened, and this is one of the only times I hope to ever tell it in my entire life. It will be only my second time retelling it, and I am only saying pretty much what I said the night I recounted it to "Inuyasha."

These are not things that I am proud of, and I feel a lot better talking about it now than I did a few years ago, right after it happened. Five years later, and I am now just about fully recovered. *Sigh* Well, let's get this over with.

Btw, not retyping this chapter, not even rereading it and editing it. It's WAYYY to close to the goddamned anniversary for me to do it without flipping out somewhat. Just copying and pasting, so quit worrying for my sanity.

My hopes are so high  
That your kiss might kill me.  
So won't you kill me?  
So I die happy?  
My heart is yours, to fill or burst,  
To break or bury,

Or wear as jewelry,

Whichever you prefer…

- Dashboard Confessional, "Hands Down."

Chapter Six: The Something.

Kagome slapped Inuyasha's shoulder, hollering between giggles, "Stop! Inuyasha! Stop that!" She broke off into a fit of laughter as he tickled her torturously, kissing her neck vigorously.

The pair led a very comfortable and passionate life now; Kikyo had moved in with her mother and barely ever spoke to Inuyasha anymore. She'd been out of his life for over a month now, and things had definitely brightened up.

There had been some gloom, of course. One night about two weeks after he had kicked Kikyo out, Inuyasha had invited Kagome to stay the night with him. Things went well through the early evening, and when the night came, they retired to the bedroom. He wasn't sure anymore who initiated their passionate encounters; they all just seemed to be mutual. But… this time, about halfway through, Kagome broke down and started crying. Inuyasha, never really being that good at comforting, just held her, asking what was wrong.

Finally, after she had cried herself dry for the night, she sat up and related the tale to Inuyasha:

I didn't even know why I went to that party. It was at a friend of a friend's place, and the friend that brought me with her wasn't even that great a friend. Those were my days of sneaking off school campus to smoke a joint, or going off to midnight parties in dank, dark basements to get high or drink myself silly. Being a good deal Irish, I was born with an unnaturally high tolerance for alcohol, so it took quite a bit to get me tipsy.

At this party, I'd only had two drinks by one in the morning, which was pretty good for me. And they were little stuff, Smirnoff. I was fully aware; 90% of the people there weren't anymore, they were all so high or wasted.

My friend… for this, we'll call him "Kenji." As recovered as I am, I still don't like to say his name, which tends to be very difficult nowadays, cause I have a boss with the same name. So, my friend Kenji is the one who invited me, and he seems to be a little tipsy, but not very bad off. He swayed a little on his feet as he motioned for me to follow him through the house, and I figured he wanted to drive me home. I went after him to try and grab his keys; I've always been very against drunk driving. Anyway, Kenji was leading me through the house, but instead of coming through the front door, I found myself in one of the bedrooms with him.

I looked at him, puzzled. It only took me a second to understand; I was, at the time, fairly attractive. I was on the dance team at the high school, and I was small and thin and had a pretty cute figure. Not really that cute anymore, but that's not the point. Point is, I know what drunken teenage boys are after. I'm not stupid. Of course, I also wasn't a virgin, but I had a boyfriend. A boyfriend who knew nothing about my secret party and substance abuse life, but a boyfriend nonetheless. I liked him, and he cared about me, so I would not be unfaithful to him.

I actually smiled at Kenji and told him that this wasn't a very good idea. He just grinned at me back and stepped forward. I stepped back, and he stepped forward again. Once again, I stepped back. Something clicked in the back of my head, and I just suddenly KNEW that it had been very stupid of me to come here.

I don't even really recall everything that happened next. I remember he pushed me, and I fell backward, not on the bed, but against it. It left a bruise on my back, I hit it at such an angle and with such force. He left scratches on my thighs from where he ripped my jeans and underwear off. I fought against him so hard that he finally grabbed my wrists and bound me to the headboard of the bed with… god, I don't even know what with. I remember feeling disgusting, feeling disgusted, and I felt… helpless. I put myself in such a horrible situation, and I couldn't defend myself.

I spent the next four years going back and forth over whether or not it was my own fault. I mean, I was the one who went to the stupid party, who had actually been dumb enough to go with him into the room alone. But… he made that choice. It wasn't like it was a life or death situation, where it was "Attack Kagome or die!" I mean, that bastard… he knew what he was doing. I doubt he regretted it. The first couple years were the absolute hardest. I was scared to be touched for a long time after that. I even contemplated suicide for a very long time, twice almost coming to attempt it.

It didn't even really help to know that he died two years ago from an overdose. It still doesn't help. It will never help.

That's why I always carry a small pocket knife in my pocket with me. If I'm at work, it'll be in my lab coat pocket. My dad gave it to me two years too late [my parents have no idea, but my dad thought he was jumping the gun a little giving it to me when he did], and he told me, "This is what you do if you're ever attacked. You whip this sucker out, stab him in the leg, twist it, and run, screaming 'Fire!'"

Apparently no one ever responds to "Rape!" They're more likely to some help you if you scream "Fire!"

Funny. It's such a funny word. It's nice not having any difficulty in saying/typing it these days.

Inuyasha laid there, holding Kagome for quite some time after she finished retelling her gruesome story. He had no idea that anyone could be that sadistic or the hurtful. When he looked down at her, she was asleep, her breathing a soft, shallow whisper. He pressed his cheek into her hair, kissing her temple lovingly. She was so small; it was easy to see how she could be overpowered.

He made it up in his mind that he would be more cautious in the future so he would not cause her to ever remember what had happened again.

A/N: Well, technically, he is causing me to remember it. I probably could've left this chapter out of the story and just ignored what happened, but I honestly hold the belief that that would be a very unhealthy thing for me to do. It was a kind of therapy writing it down. Just, please, no sympathy reviews. I hate sympathy, and, in these cases, I feel like sympathy just makes things worse.

By the way, the anniversary is less than a week from today. The five-year anniversary. Whoop. I should go buy a cake. Then burn it.

Next chapter, where things will return to normal:

Chapter Seven: The Break-Up.


	7. Chapter Seven: The BreakUp

A/N: So. Things are back to normal, as is the story. Let's get on with it; maybe some more lemon in this one. Been watching more Buffy and Angel; got the third season of Angel in, at last!

And my muses have been arguing about this story. They're upset that I'm really only working on it right now, and not really working on anything else. Magic's especially perturbed, cause she's a little stuck on "Divine Intervention." The rest… they just aren't really helping. *glares at Shadow, Taji, and Dart*

And this is the main, big lemon chapter of the entire story. This lemon really and honestly happened EXACTLY like this; it was so amazing, and he was so god-like, that this bout of lovemaking has been forever burned into my memory. I will NEVER forget that night.

Each touch belongs to each new sound.  
Say now you want to shake me too.  
Move down to me, slip into you.  
She sinks in my mind as she sheds through her skin.  
Touch, sight, taste like fire.  
Hands do now what eyes no longer defend.  
Hands to fuel desire.

- The All-American Rejects, "Dance Inside."

Chapter Seven: The Break-Up.

He stared at her. It had been three months since Kikyo had moved in with her mother. It had been only one month since Kagome had left the theater to work at the restaurant full-time. She had figured that maybe it would help their relationship; they had started arguing and fighting a lot more in her last month of working there. She figured that it would be better for them, that they were around each other too much. She had given up her cozy gig at her mom's to live with him.

Two days before this, she mentioned a break. Things were… really rough. After she left, a couple of their "kids," as they called some of the employees at the theater, left also, saying it just wasn't the same. They also didn't really like the new assistant manager, Yuka.

So Kagome and Inuyasha took a break.

Two days of no words, no seeing each other; she stayed with her mother and brother through those two days. Then, on the third day, later in the evening, she appeared at his door. This is why he just stood and stared at her. "I wasn't expecting to see you again."

Kagome blinked at him. He sighed, looking her up and down. She looked very good in her waitress uniform, with her white, oxford button-down shirt, her tight, form-fitting black jeans, and her black knee long apron. He invited her in with a gesture of his hand, and when she stepped close to him, he closed his eyes and inhaled her scent, her soft beautiful scent. She smelled like water and fresh mint and soap. He shuddered, glad that her back was turned, as he imagined the soft feel of her skin under his fingertips. But when she whirled around and glared at him with her dark eyes, he remembered that her soft, glowing skin was not beneath his fingers. He remembered that Kagome was standing here, in the living room of their apartment, in her waitress uniform, giving him a very perturbed look.

She crossed her arms over her chest and watched Inuyasha. "We're taking a break," she told him, as if he didn't already know. "It's not like it was meant to be forever."

He walked around her, closer to the sofa. "Well, I sure as hell didn't expect to be seeing you after only two days."

Kagome groaned, her eyes narrowing at him. "Look, if you don't want me to be here, then I'll just go ahead and leave. See? Here's me walking to the door…"

He strode over with a long stride and shut the door just as she was opening it. She glared at him, and Inuyasha just glared back. "Look, that's not what I meant. I just meant that I'm… surprised. You surprised me, that's all." The hanyou shook his head and sighed. "To be truthful, I'm glad that you're here."

Kagome shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her arms still crossed over her chest. "Well, to be honest, I missed you."

Inuyasha gave her a long look. "I missed you, too."

Suddenly, she was up in his arms, her lips against his. He pushed her against the wall and cupped her gorgeous ass in his hands, picking her up off the floor. She instinctively wrapped her legs around him, and Inuyasha cried out at the feel of the hot fabric of her pants pressed hard against his throbbing erection. They made their way into the bedroom, Inuyasha too distracted by her lips, and they were shredding off each other's clothes the entire way through the apartment.

By the time Inuyasha had Kagome sprawled on the huge bed, she was completely and gorgeously naked, and he stripped himself and stood wonderfully nude before her also. Without waiting another moment, he ravaged her body, suckling her breast torturously. He ran his hands across her taught stomach and her sinfully soft hips until he found her dripping core. She bucked once when he flicked his index finger against her clit, and she arched her back and moaned when he worked two fingers between her folds. When he was finished with her left breast, he moved over to make short work of the other.

She moaned and whimpered. "Oh, please," she murmured as she bucked her hips again, driving his fingers further inside her. He sucked a little harder as he finished, and he raised his face to look her in the eye. Kagome's eyes barely focused on him. "Please," she begged. "Please, Inuyasha."

He pulled his fingers out of her and licked her juices off them. He steadied himself, climbing on top of her. He guided his cock to her dripping wet entrance, and he relished the smell of her arousal as it reached his nose. He slid himself easily inside her, and she moaned at the feeling of him filling her. He slid himself in and out of her instinctively, and he growled at the feeling. The pleasure intensified as he felt her slide her hands up and across his muscular chest, finally reaching his head. She ran her fingers through his hair, and when he grabbed her hips with both hands and thrust into her more rapidly.

Suddenly, Inuyasha opened his eyes. He usually closed them while he was making love to Kagome, but for some reason he felt compelled to look at her tonight. His golden gaze met her chocolatey stare, and they watched each other as they bodies melted together to form a unified piece of flesh. He felt her inner walls clench on him, and he knew she was climaxing even before she arched her back or her eyes rolled up. Inuyasha called out her name as he came with her, the warmth of his seed spilling inside her causing her to go over the edge again.

They lay there together, their legs wrapped up in each other, breathing together. Her head was pressed against his chest, she smiled. "I guess the break's over, huh?"

Inuyasha just chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Done. All this really did happen, mind you. Anyways… later.

Next:

Chapter Eight: The Unhappy New Year.


	8. Chapter Eight: The Unhappy New Year

A/N: So, it's been a while. Not really my fault, considering my laptop's display drive nearly blew up, and I couldn't really do anything to fix it except... wipe my hard drive completely. I don't even have Microsoft Word anymore... Crap. Oh, well, Wordpad'll do for now. But here's the new chapter. Go ahead, love it. Btw, no lemon in this one; it's purely for plot-pushing. Maybe I'll throw in a wet dream or some fantasies, since we all know that the only reason anyone reads this is for the detailed descriptions of mind-blowing sex.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

When it started we had high hopes  
Now my back's on the line,  
My back's on the ropes.  
When it started, we were all right,  
But night makes a fool of us in daylight.  
Then we were dying of frustration  
Saying, "Lord, lead me not into temptation."  
But it's not easy when she turns you on...  
Since they've gone.

- Coldplay, "Yes"

Chapter Eight: The Unhappy New Year.

Kagome just sat there on the sofa and glared at Inuyasha. They'd been together for two years now; they'd been living together for just that long as well. "All this time," she mumbled, "and you wanna try something like this NOW?"

They'd been arguing for several weeks about how to handle losing the apartment like this. The two hadn't been prepared for Inuyasha to lose his position as the manager of the theater, and Kagome had started working as an assistant photographer in a major studio in downtown Tokyo. She was only a semester away from completing her B.A. in photography. But she couldn't hold them afloat on the pay she was getting at the studio, not with tuition and books to pay for also. There was no way, and Inuyasha knew it. Kagome would go to live with her parents for her last semester at college, and Inuyasha...

Well, his parents had both died when he was very young. He couldn't go to live with Sesshomaru, because he didn't want to impose on his older brother and sister-in-law. He also didn't want to move in with Miroku and Sango, who had gotten married the year before, because they were now planning to start a family, and that would have just made Inuyasha plain uncomfortable. There was only one person left that could help him out at a time like this, and it really bothered him. But he knew that this would bother Kagome ten times more...

"You know what REALLY pisses me off about this?" Kagome asked in as bitchy a tone as she could manage. Inuyasha couldn't look at her; he sat across the room, in the chair at the desk, looking out the window and wringing his hands. "What?" he asked cautiously, knowing he wasn't going to like the answer.

Kagome stood and crossed her arms over her breasts, and her glare deepened. Inuyasha glanced at her and swallowed audibly. He hated the anger gleaming in her pretty brown eyes. He looked away again. "After two years, you're still married to her," Kagome murmured. Inuyasha looked at her again, a long, searching look, and he winced at the hurt in her expression. They stayed like that, Kagome standing and Inuyasha sitting, both staring at each other, for a few minutes before Kagome whispered, "It's like you're taking her back after all this time."

She was in his arms in an instant. "No," he murmured into her hair, cherishing her scent as it filled his nostrils. "No, I would never take her back. Not when I have you to look forward to. It's just..." He pulled back to look her in the eye. "There's nowhere else."

Kagome pulled out of his arms, a disgusted look taking residence on her pretty face. "That's not true, Inuyasha," she told him. "There's always somewhere else you can go. There's always something else that you can do. This is just the only thing that you feel COMFORTABLE doing."

He sighed. There was no convincing her; Inuyasha recognized that look. That was the look of hurt, of betrayal, of abandonment. Kagome already had trust issues, with her dad leaving her and her mom at such an early age, and then all the things that had happened to her in high school. She'd been hurt lots of times by boys, and, although Inuyasha knew he was no boy to her, he was hurting her all the same.

Kagome packed her things and was moved out that night.

When she was gone, Inuyasha sat up for a while, watching his favorite episode of Futurama [the Globetrotters one] to try and cheer himself up. It didn't work. Finally, he was getting ready to go to bed when he looked up and saw the clock in the dining room chime twelve. He groaned and rubbed his face, telling Kagome a quiet "Happy New Year," that he knew she couldn't hear.

________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Sorry. No lemons. No wet dreams. No fantasies. This is purely about emotion. And, yes, I know I'm a bipolar writer.


	9. Chapter Nine: The Visit and the Goodbye

A/N: So. Here's the next one. Oh, and it has occurred to me that Chapter Two has disappeared [thanks bunches, !]. I'll be rewriting it [since my hard drive got wiped, remember? *rolls eyes at horrible luck*], just not anytime soon. I'll word things better, though, hopefully. Right now, though, I'm just interested in getting the story out. So. Lemon in this one, plus some serious plotting. Shadow and Taji will be assisting.

I said so, look closely  
There might be something you'd like  
What was it like?  
(oh and I...)  
looked so close, it's been months, who knows if I...  
Will get this right?  
(oh and I...)  
look so closely, there might be something you'd like  
What was it like?

Oh, and I...

- Taking Back Sunday, "What's It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?"

Chapter Nine: The Visit and the Goodbye.

Inuyasha knew that he was being unnecessarily ridiculous, running around Kikyo's apartment like this. He was picking things up and throwing them around, and then he'd have to jump in the shower. Kagome was already on her way, and Kikyo had only just left for work. As he stepped under the cold, pouring water of the shower, he sighed and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. 'Cheating on your wife is a very tiring process,' he thought with a small chuckle. Of course, just because he was living with Kikyo once again didn't mean that they were back in a relationship; he'd made that VERY clear to both her and Kagome. But Kikyo didn't really know that he was still in a relationship with Kagome; that was the only drawback. And Kagome had no idea that Kikyo had no idea.

The hanyou rolled his eyes as he lathered Men's Suave shampoo in his hair, remembering the past couple months he'd spent here living with Kikyo. They were on the other side of Tokyo from where Kagome stayed at the shrine with her mom, brother, and grandfather. She'd been very busy, preparing for graduation while still holding her job at the studio and another at the shrine.

Within hours of moving in with Kikyo, Inuyasha found himself longing to be with his Kagome once more. That's what she had become; she wasn't JUST Kagome Higurashi anymore. She was pretty much his wife, his mate now... She might as well just go ahead and change her name to Kagome Taisho.

He shook his head, grinning into the running water. "Kagome Taisho," he mumbled. Man, did he love the sound of that.

It seemed that as soon as he had stepped out of the shower and into his clothes, the knock came at the door. Inuyasha opened it, and Kagome jumped at him, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck and nearly squeezing the life out of him.

"I missed you-" Kagome started, but Inuyasha couldn't contain himself at the sight of her. His lips found hers while his eyes were still closed, and, surprised, Kagome returned the rough, yearning kiss. It deepened almost instantly, and Kagome found her own eyes closing as he shut the door and pinned her against it. His mouth disconnecting from hers momentarily, Inuyasha grasped her hips gently and slid her up the inside of the door. He ran his hands from her hips down her thighs and wrapped her legs around his waist, moaning uncontrollably at the feel of the hot fabric of her jeans sliding against him. His cock was hard already, and he pushing it into the fabric protecting her warm core, rubbing it gently. He felt it twitch against his erection, and she arched her back against him, letting out a deep moan. Inuyasha felt the fabric of her jeans become wet, and he kissed Kagome again.

He worked her jeans off slowly, careful to never let her drop even an inch. After her jeans were hanging over the back of the recliner, he started on her shirt, and then unhooked her bra and let the two pieces of cotton float to the carpet. With his index claw, Inuyasha ripped one smooth, straight line down the center of her panties, going from her flat stomach down along her nether lips and reaching to her firm ass. She gasped, but she relaxed; he would never even come close to catching her most sensitive parts with those claws of his.

Kagome gasped again as she felt Inuyasha push her farther up along the door, until she was so high she could touch the ceiling. Which she did as soon as she felt Inuyasha's sharp nose nuzzling her clit through her black curls. Electric shivers went down her spine when he licked her clit, and she outright moaned when she felt two fingers press cautiously inside her. Inuyasha continued to run his tongue along her clit, swirling his tongue around the sensitive nub, as he pumped his two fingers in and out of her. She bucked her hips into his face suddenly and let out a loud shriek as she was overcome by her orgasm, and he felt her juices drip onto the back of his hand. He brought his fingers out of her, licking them clean before he ran his tongue along the inside of her, his senses exploding at the sweet taste.

Inuyasha knew that she was ready for him. He was more than ready for her. He let Kagome slide back down along the door until he was holding her in his arms once again, and he turned with her and laid her down gently on the carpet. As she lay there on the floor, in a daze from her powerful orgasm, he rummaged through her bag until he found a condom she'd brought with her. After he'd slipped it on, he climbed on top of her, staring down at her. She was a beautiful sight, lying there beneath him in her nude glory. Her skin was soft and tan, and he couldn't help but run his tongue along her collarbone, marveling at the taste of her skin. She smelled like lemon today, and he knew she loved the way he smelled like Irish Spring soap and water. Inuyasha situated himself between her legs, and he growled at the wonderful feeling of his stiff cock sliding so easily into her dripping wet core. She was so warm and soft inside... it nearly drove him over the edge just feeling her for the first time in months.

Kagome wrapped her legs around him, her mind coming back to her once she felt him begin to pump himself in and out of her. He growled and he moaned, and she kissed his neck and his chest and his cheek. When she was coming up on her next orgasm, she looked up and saw him staring down at her, and Kagome was lost in those amber pools of love and devotion. His pace slowed for a few moments as he became caught up in her eyes as well, and he grabbed a handful of her ebony hair and just stared at her, sliding himself slowly in and out of her. She reached up and kissed him, and it was as if a fire was lit between them. His pace quickened once again as he was overcome with passion and needing and wanting, and he grabbed her shoulders and pinned her to the floor beneath him as he spilled his seed like liquid fire inside her. He cried out, practically a howl, as he came, and she moaned and whimpered as she rode her own orgasm, brought on by the sudden burst of warmth inside her.

They lay together, naked, on the sofa, watching the new Family Guy afterward.

Kagome smiled at Inuyasha, and he smiled back, grabbing her hand and giving it a quick, loving squeeze.

Inuyasha groaned as he listened to her over the phone. 'Why can't every day be like that last visit we had?' he wondered. They had been arguing for the past four months now, ever since that day. Kagome was pissed that it had nearly been three years since they'd gotten together, and he was STILL married to Kikyo. That, and he couldn't move with her now that she was graduated because he still didn't have the money or a good enough job; he'd even lost his car.

When he heard the inevitable 'Click!' he knew it was all over. She was leaving the next week for America, to move to Denver, Colorado where she'd set up her own studio. He couldn't compete with the U.S.

Kagome was gone now. And he didn't even fully understand why.

"You're too goddamn depressed now, Inuyasha!" she'd told him. "Why can't you just man up and quit acting this way? You're not being yourself at all!"

I have a lot of things to be depressed about, he'd countered. It was a pathetic excuse, he knew, but it was his only one. She was right; he shouldn't be so depressed.

And his depression drove her away. She felt that she wasn't good enough to make him happy anymore, that he needed a job and money and a car and his own place to do that. Kagome wasn't all he needed anymore.

No more Kagome Taisho.

Kagome huffed as she hustled through the airport. Her friends Ayame and Kouga were waiting for her outside; Kouga had moved to America after they had broken up, and there he met Ayame. She was... basically, the girl of his dreams, and he and Kagome had no hard feelings toward each other. Kouga and Ayame were only dating still, talking a little bit of marriage, but not much. They'd invited Kagome to come stay with them a while, at least until she got her bulding for her studio. She had her eye on a small, old warehouse that was for sale; it was two-story, and the ground floor seemed like it would make the perfect studio. She figured she could make up the second floor into a good-sized two-bedroom apartment.

She jumped as a kid went running by, nearly knocking into her. The child's father came running up, stopping to make sure Kagome was all right.

She smiled and waved her hand at him. "I'm fine; he just scared me a little is all," she told the man.

The man smiled gently back at her. "I am very sorry," he told her, taking the small boy by the arm. "Now apologize to the nice lady."

"Sorry," came the small, shy voice.

"You're, what?" the man asked. "Three months?"

Kagome chuckled a little. "Four."

The man nodded, smiling again. "Do you know what it is yet?"

"My doctor back in Tokyo said it was a little boy," Kagome answered with a small smile.

"Kagome!" The three looked up and saw Kouga standing by the entrance with Ayame, waving to her. Kagome turned to the man. "It was a pleasure," she told him, turning.

"Oh, is that the father?" the man asked.

Slowly, Kagome turned back to him and shook her head. "No. I'm afraid the father... well, he's back in Tokyo."

The man nodded, understanding. "Have a nice day, ma'am," he told her, walking off with his son in tow.

"You too," Kagome murmured thoughtfully as she walked over to Kouga and Ayame.

A/N: There we go. We're getting somewhere. Goodnight.


	10. Chapter Ten: The Reason

A/N: So. Hope y'all really liked that last one. The ball is really getting rolling here... and to clear up any confusion, my now-ex-husband is not Noah's father... it was Noah's stepfather, and we tried... but it just didn't work out. Now me and Noah's father are... heating back up a little bit. And, yes, he IS kind of pissed off at me for running off with his son... but he'll get over it. He didn't need a baby on his mind anyway! haha. Anyways... we're off!

Despondent, distracted,  
You're vicious and romantic.  
These are a few of my favorite things.  
All of those flavors and  
this is what you choose:  
Past the blues, past the blues,  
and onto something new,  
Something real, make it timeless.  
An act of God and nothing less will be accepted.  
So if you're calling me out...  
Then count me out.  
Yea, we're stubborn and melodramatic,  
a real class act.  
You see, I know a few of your favorite things.  
Five in the morning and all comes out pouring,  
Love, out the same way in.  
Something real, make it timeless,  
an act of God and nothing less will be accepted.  
I said real... make it timeless,  
an act of God and nothing less will be accepted.  
So if you're calling me out...  
Then count me out.

mmm, mm, mm, mm.  
mm, mm, mmmm.  
(sigh)

- Taking Back Sunday, "Divine Intervention"

Chapter Ten: The Reason.

When Rin and Sesshomaru slowly opened the door, the delivery was already finished. They'd run into Kouga and Ayame in the hall, watching the nurses bathe and weigh the small male infant. They found Kagome hidden under a thick blanket and a polka-dotted hospital gown, dead asleep. Her hair was a sweaty, knotted mess, and she was a little red and puffy. They backed out of the room slowly, nearly bumping into Miroku and a very pregnant Sango.

"Oh, you guys made it here before we did!" Sango whispered loudly, a little jealous that they'd gotten to see the baby first.

"We only just got here," Rin told her, leading the two to where Kouga and Ayame stood in awe. There he was, a pink little boy with black hair and golden eyes. They could barely make out the two small black and white spotted puppy's ears atop the child's head.

He slept soundly that night, as did Kagome. The next morning, she was a little groggy and still puffy, but her skin had returned to its normal olive hue, and she was allowed to have guests finally.

Finally, the time for the baby's arrival came. The nurses wheeled him in, smiling big bright smiles and telling Kagome how lucky she was to have such a well-behaved and healthy son. She took him up in her arms and stared down at him, marveling at him. He watched her steadily with his big, bright eyes, and Kagome almost teared up when she saw them and his pup's ears.

"He really is my brother's son," Sesshomaru mumbled in a little bit of remorse, and Rin slapped his arm, gesturing to Kagome's crestfallen expression.

"What are you going to call him?" Miroku asked quietly, knowing how delicate Kagome was right about now.

It took her only a second to smile and answer, "His name is Shippo. Shippo Taisho."

Kouga nearly jumped out of his chair in shock. "You're going to give him that dirty, no-good, rat bastard's last name?!" he exclaimed. He caught Sesshomaru's dirty look from the corner of his eye and mumbled, "No offense."

"None taken," Sesshomaru replied genuinely. "My brother had no reason to treat his woman in such a way. Especially not when she was with his child."

"I'll say!" Sango cried out. "He practically DROVE you out of Japan! And you were four-months pregnant, for Kami's sake!" She nearly shook with anger, and Miroku patted her knee comfortingly. "Dear, he didn't know," he told her gently.

"I know he didn't know!" she cried out. "But he should have been able to figure out that something was up with Kagome! She was moody, and she was lonely, and she needed him! And he was too busy being shoved up Kikyo's ass!" She growled, frustrated. "I wish he had never come to work at our damn movie theater! We would have been just fine without him!"

But Kagome shook her head in disagreement. "I don't wish that." She gazed down at her son, and her face brightened at the sight of his golden eyes staring back up at her. She raised him up to her face and nuzzled his nose with hers playfully. "I could never wish that."

On the other side of the world, oblivious to what was happening on the other side of it, Inuyasha was sitting on the sofa, listening to Kikyo drawl on and on about her day when the phone rang suddenly. He was more than a little surprised to see Sesshomaru's number on the caller ID. He quickly stepped outside, not bothering to offer an explanation to Kikyo, before answering with a stiff but curious, "Hello?"

"Inuyasha," Sesshomaru said through the receiver. "I was just wondering something."

"Oh, yea?" he asked. "And what's that?"

"Are you dense?"

Inuyasha blinked. He and his brother had never been on very good terms, but Sesshomaru was rarely very straightforward with his hostility toward Inuyasha. "I like to think not," the hanyou answered carefully, still curious as to where this was headed. "Why?"

"No reason," his older brother answered, and Inuyasha could picture his cold demeanor, his nonchalant shrug. "Just wondering." Click!

Inuyasha stared at the phone for a minute, his nose wrinkled a little. "What the hell was that about?" he wondered. He had half a mind to call Sesshomaru back up and demand that he explain what the fuck was going on... but he knew that that would have no effect on his icy older brother. So he just let it go and went back inside to be talked to to death.

Rin gave her husband a strange look as he rejoined them in Kagome's hospital room. He just flashed her his cell phone and smiled gently at her. "I just needed a question answered, that's all," he murmured in her ear, giving her a soft kiss on the temple.

"So we're going to be staying in the loft with you for a while," Miroku was telling Kagome. "We'll be helping you out with Shippo until he's big enough to stay in his own room; then we'll move into our own place and let you two have the apartment to yourselves."

"What about your baby?" Kagome wondered, looking at Sango's prominent baby bump.

Sango waved a hand. "We'll figure something out," she told her best friend. "Won't we, babe?" she asked Miroku, patting his knee gently. He smiled and patted hers back. "Of course we will," he replied.

"And we'll be staying for just a few days," Rin chimed in excitedly, and Sesshomaru nodded at her side, taking her hand in his. "We want to make sure you and our nephew get settled in just fine."

Kagome smiled as she rocked her son in her arms. He was sleeping now, but he would be up before she knew it. And Kagome was very grateful to have her friends by her side.

Of course, she would have liked to have Shippo's father by her side as well. But she could wait.

She could wait.

A/N: there you go! And i argued with myself for a while, wondering if I should make Shippo their kid or not, or just leave him as Noah... But, honestly, my son really DOES remind me of Shippo sometimes; he's just so darn CUTE! Of course, we all know that Shippo isn't a quarter Inu demon, he's really a full kitsune, but I'm changing things around. The character will be the same, but his ethnicity and appearance won't be. So, just deal with it. I've got great plans for "Shippo."


	11. Chapter Eleven: The Home Video

A/N: Here we go some more. And I'm thinking about doing some more shots from my life; hell, that could be my author schtick. I've got some really great scenes, things that, I swear, honest to God happened! Mostly with "Kouga" and "Inuyasha." *laughs* Good times, gooooood times... Anywho. We're coming toward the end of the reality part here; I won't tell you exactly where, but I think you can pretty much guess. The ending will be fictional, something that I hope for with a little drama mixed in there for that creative edge, but... for now, I speak the truth. Seriously, though, this story is my main one.

Also, this chapter is an experiment. In it, Miroku is shooting a home video [much to the women's displeasure], and it's of Shippo's second birthday party. It's taken from a real home video we have that my best guy friend shot of us.

oh no, I see  
a spiderweb is tangled up with me  
and I lost my head  
and thought of all the stupid things I'd said  
oh no, what's this?  
a spiderweb and I'm caught in the middle  
so I turned to run  
and thought of all the stupid things I'd done  
and I never meant to cause you trouble  
and I never meant to do you wrong  
ah, well if I ever caused you trouble  
oh no I never meant to do you harm

- Coldplay, "Trouble"

Chapter Eleven: The Home Video.

*camera shakes with loud rustling noises as it settles on Kagome holding Shippo*

Kagome *glares at the camera*: Seriously, Miroku, shut that thing off.

Miroku *from behind the camera*: But, Kagome, I'm trying to tape the party! Shippo probably won't remember it too well when he's older, so he'll have this to remember it by!

Sango *off camera*: Honey, she said to turn it off. *baby crying in the background*

Miroku: Oh, all right!

*camera shakes a little with more rustling noises, tilting Kagome and Shippo*

Kagome: Is it off?

Miroku: Yea, I think so.

*Kagome walks off camera, still holding Shippo*

*The screen goes fuzzy, and then it starts up again. Shippo is blowing out the candles of his cake with Kagome helping at his side*

All *cheering and clapping*: Whoo!

Kagome *hugs Shippo*: I'm so proud of you, sweetie! You blew out those candles like a real pro!

*Shippo grins and squeezes Kagome's neck*

Sango *off camera*: Miroku, are you taping again?

Miroku * behind camera, sounding nervous*: Um, uhh...

*camera shakes accompanied by a loud smack, then the screen goes black*

Inuyasha sat up, staring at the tan living room carpet. He licked his lips, not bothering to brush his long mane of silver hair from hiding his face. He sure wanted his face hidden right about now. Kikyo stared at the blank tv screen. "Huh," she said. "Kagome looks like she's doing fairly well. She has a family now, and Sango and Miroku have their family right alongside hers. She looks like she's living a pretty good life."

Inuyasha lifted his head a little and stared at her in disbelief. Right then he thanked the Kami's that his wife was so dense; she hadn't noticed the peppered pup's ears atop the toddler's head. She hadn't recognized the brilliant, golden eyes that the child sported. Of course, the rest of the boy [Shippo, isn't that what Miroku had called him in the video? Inuyasha thought] looked just like Kagome.

Kikyo hadn't been able to tell, but Inuyasha could. That was HIS son in that video.

As the night wore on, Inuyasha couldn't think about anything else. Everything made sense now; Kagome's moodiness, her leaving so abruptly, why she never called him to talk any more. She hadn't moved on, as he'd dreaded.

She was busy raising their son. On her own, as it was.

Inuyasha wondered what the boy was like. Was he stubborn, like both his parents? Was he gentle and kind, like Kagome? Was he witty, sometimes to a fault, as his father?

He resolved that he'd have to meet the boy. But he wondered why Kagome had wanted to keep this a secret from him for so long. He had a right to be near his son... didn't he? Maybe not in Kagome's eyes. Maybe this was his punishment for...

Inuyasha glared at himself in the mirror and shook his head rather violently. Hell no, this wasn't a punishment! This wasn't his fault at all! That damn woman should have told him she was pregnant! He'd have gotten his divorce from Kikyo, and he'd have moved in with her, and married her, and taken care of her!

He sighed as he laid down beside Kikyo to go to sleep. "Feh," he muttered as he drifted off. "Stupid wench."

A/N: Short, I know, but at least we're getting somewhere. PLEASE!!! REVIEW!!!!!!!!! I LIVE feedback, I just love it!


	12. Chapter Twelve: The Club

A/N: Well, taking me a bit longer to write these now. Not so sure where I want to start taking it from. Oh, and "Inuyasha" has been taking up more and more of my attention, haha.

Ahem. Let's get to it.

You're smile is like the sun to me.  
So bright it's weakening,  
You're so sweet.  
But with all that you'd like from me,  
A smile and be okay,  
Sorry.  
It's taken my every day  
To accept that I have to say,  
To say no.  
I'll be right here,  
Say something's wrong  
To just find fault.  
She complains the room's too cold,  
But when I learn to make heat,  
It's just to disappoint.  
Oh, you know I'll forget, so quick.

- The Early November, "Everything's Too Cold... But You're So Hot"

Chapter 12: The Club.

Hojo hated crowds. He'd gone to a small high school just outside of Tokyo, and he'd gone off to a small college just outside of Kyoto. When he graduated with his computer degree, he'd moved to a small town just outside of Denver, Colorado in the U.S. Hojo was just... not a crowds person.

So finding himself standing at the bar of one of the most popular clubs in Denver on this snowy Saturday night was unexpected, to say the least.

It was a nice bar, he had to admit. As he sipped his Crown and Coke, he looked around. Beautiful young college women, covered with sweat and scantily clad in halter tops and mini skirts filled the dance floor. Pink and blue and green and purple lights flashed and danced against their skin. Hojo turned from the sight of the dancing crowd to get a refill, and when he turned back, his eyes settled on the most enticing sight he had ever seen.

Neverending legs that were lean and muscular and smooth. They were connected to feet covered by dark red stilleto's and a thin torso that was barely covered by a shimmery, black dress, the skirt of which stopped just underneath her ass. There were no sleeves to the dress, and the woman wearing it wasn't covered in sweat like the rest of the people in the crowded club. Hojo's eyes widened when he looked upon her familiar face.

"Kagome?" he hollered in disbelief. Somehow, over the earthshakingly loud rock music, the vixen heard him call her name. She stopped moving, and her head turned sharply, her dark eyes settling on him with an intense look.

She left her friend behind on the dance floor, stalking over to him in her heels. "Hojo?" she asked, her mind unable to believe her eyes. "I cannot believe that you're here!"

He stood, his anxious grin overpowering his facial muscles for the first time in years. He inwardly rolled his eyes at the butterflies forming in his stomach at the sight of Kagome once more.

"Oh, wow!" she cried out, smiling broadly. "I haven't seen you since high school!"

"I know!" he replied just as loudly.

Kagome turned her head a little as her friend came up to them. She was a tall, striking woman with long, sleek black hair, purple eyeshadow to complement her amethyst eyes, and she was around seven months pregnant. "Oh," Kagome said, smiling at the woman. "Sorry. Hojo, this is my best friend Sango. Sango, this is Hojo. We knew each other in high school, back in Tokyo."

Sango nodded, observing this newcomer into her friend's now stable life. "So," she started. "What brought you all the way to America?"

"To get away from my parents in Japan," he told them. "My father wanted me to run his corporation, but... I like computers as much as the next guy, but I'm more of an entertainment kind of guy myself."

He looked at Kagome very seriously. "And what about you?" he asked suddenly. "The last I heard, you were at Tokyo University, studying nursing."

Kagome laughed a little. "That was a really long time ago," she answered. Sango was giving her a puzzled look, and Kagome smiled as she explained, "Before I started at the theater and met you guys, I was going to Tokyo U to be a nurse and working in a hospital lab. But I decided that I didn't want to do that anymore, so I switched majors and found new jobs."

Sango nodded. "I remember seeing that lab job on your application. It makes sense now."

Kagome turned back to Hojo. "I changed my major to photography and minored in business. Now I own a small two-story building right inside Denver. The ground floor serves as my studio, and the top floor is where Sango and I stay with her husband Miroku and my son Shippo."

Hojo's eyes widened considerably. "You're a mom now?" he asked Kagome practically in disbelief. She grinned, nodding, and laughed at his reaction. "I know, I know!" she told him. "No one in high school would've ever thought I'd make a good mom, but, if I do say so myself, I think I've been a pretty good one!"

Hojo shook his head, still in awe. "No, no, Kagome! We never thought you wouldn't make a good mom! No one at the high school could see you ever settling down with anyone to become a mom!"

He looked around. "So where's your husband?" he asked. "I'd like to meet the man that made the infamous Kagome Higurashi settle down!"

Kagome and Sango exchanged looks. "Well, Hojo," Kagome began. "I'm not married."

He blinked at her for a moment. Then his expression became confused. "I don't understand."

"I'm not married, Hojo," she told him again. "I had Shippo out of wedlock; his father and I... we split up while I was pregnant."

He watched her with an intense look. "But he helps you care for Shippo, right?"

"He should!" Sango hollered suddenly, but Kagome shot her a look.

"Shippo's father doesn't know..." she told Hojo slowly. "He has no idea that he has a son living in America."

Hojo stepped back. "Oh, that's harsh, Kagome," he told her.

"No way is that harsh to Inuyasha!" Sango cried out, gripping her large stomach. "He was a complete and total ass to Kagome! How are we supposed to expect him to treat his son any better!"

"No, no," Hojo said, waving his hands. "I didn't mean that it was harsh to Inuyasha; I know that if Kagome left him and came all the way from America to get their son away from him, then she must have had a good reason to.

"But, Kagome, the boy needs a father," Hojo told her.

Kagome shifted her weight to her other foot, planting her hands to her hips as they cocked to one side, and she gave him a hard look. "I don't need help taking care of my child."

"I'm not saying help, Kagome," he told her. "I'm talking about a father figure that will teach Shippo what boys need to learn from their fathers."

Kagome watched him carefully, knowing that he was right.

Inuyasha had been having some pretty strange dreams lately.

In one, he was standing with Kagome somewhere... There was nothing else there besides them. Just white space lay beyond Kagome's face. He reached out to touch her, and she flinched away from his fingers. She stared up into his golden eyes, her eyes burning straight through into him. "What's wrong with you?" she breathed. She tried to back up, but she couldn't. They both looked down.

A knife was shoved hilt-deep into Kagome's torso. Her dark blood ran down her legs, staining her jeans and her fluttery pink blouse. She gagged a little, her knees becoming weak, and he caught her. What shocked him is that he had to remove his hand from the hilt of the knife to do it.

He much preferred the other dream. This one, he's laid out on the bed with Kikyo sleeping extra soundly beside him, and Kagome is lying on top of him. They're both completely and beautifully naked, and he and Kagome take up the entire night with deep, intimate conversations and laughing at jokes. He loves her, and she loves him.

And then he wakes up. And she's gone.

Stay tuned guys and gals:

Chapter 13: The Question.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: The Question

A/N: Here's some more for ya. This is, obviously, everyone's favorite. But I wanna try to get into the fictional swing again. And, seriously, if you guys like my real life schmuck so much, how about you try my Koga/Kag fic? I called it "Honk If You Like Sex in the Rain" haha. That's such a fitting title... Man, that was a weird day... Anyway. Let's get this soap show going!

And, from here on out, whenever I mention something about "Inuyasha" and "Shippo" being different from other people, it's symbolic of the fact that not many people where I come from are that accepting of my relationship with a man who is so much older than me, and they think very little of children coming from such relationships... *frowny face* My poor boy gets made fun of for having such an "old" dad. But he's very young at heart!

But it's okay  
We'll come around  
With nights like this are never ending  
I try so hard to make this perfect  
You and I somehow  
We can't see eye to eye together  
We always knew that you worked better  
I know you want it all  
But you got me.  
Sorry I never was everything you ever dreamed  
But kept at bay, for just in case that day...  
...I don't want you to love me anymore!  
With my bags packed and ready to go.  
And nothing's ever hurt so much for me  
To let you go, than to let you go.

- The Early November, "Baby Blue"

Chapter 13: The Question

Things were busy at the studio the day that Kagome first invited Hojo over. She had three appointments, but, as usual, her boy Shippo was lending his small, four-year-old hands to help her out, handing her new rolls of film when she needed them and resupplying the stop bath (Kagome wouldn't let him anywhere near the developer or fixer). She knew that Miroku had his own hands full upstairs, where he had Sango and their own son Kaji to care for. Sango was now in her ninth month of pregnancy, and the delivery, they all knew, was right around the corner for Akiko, their daughter.

Kagome thought about having more children every day. Shippo was a very good boy, and she felt very lucky to have him as her son. But she knew he was lonely; he was a sweet boy, but he had trouble making new friends at the daycare. It seemed he had inherited his father's temper along with his pup's ears, which Kagome knew would unsettle a lot of people. Youkai and hanyou lived in peace with the humans nowadays, but she knew there were still racists, and she also recognized that several people were still spooked by the so-called "demons." She had thought that America might be more open-minded than Japan, but she found that their country of origin was actually more accepting of non-humans than the Americans here.

She "humphed" at this as she took a shot. It was a family, her appointment right now, and they were a sweet-looking bunch. Not unlike the Brady's, she thought with a small smile.

After the night at the club, where she had run into Hojo once more, he'd called her and invited her out to dinner the following evening. Sango had no problem watching over Shippo for her, and Kagome found that it was nice to be waited on once more. Men didn't come knocking on her door every day to take her out, and it was nice for someone to be interested in her again.

He was funny, Hojo. He made lots of jokes, but they were mostly dumb jokes, blonde jokes, gay jokes. They were more about humor than they were about wit or wordplay, which were Kagome's favorites (And Inuyasha's, she remembered with a slight furrowing of her brow).

He was also quite generous and fun-loving. She went on more dates with him, and, for the next two months, went on two to three outings with him each week. He was in the entertainment business here, as he'd said, and he was always looking for more talent. His success with so many singers and performers allowed him access into the most private restaurants and clubs - not that he really seemed to want to be there.

Kagome knew that Hojo was strange from high school. But, now, he proved to be even stranger than she had initially thought. 'And he's a tad clingy, too,' she thought, scrunching her nose a bit. The father of the family she was photographing gave her a look. "Why do you keep making those faces at us?" he asked a bit snobbishly.

She glared at him. "They're not AT you," she shot back, clicking the shutter. "I'm thinking about things, okay?"

"Shouldn't you be thinking about taking our picture?"

Kagome was about to pop the man upside the head and order him out of the studio, but his wife was mumbling angrily in his ear. Kagome didn't need super hearing to know the guy was getting royally bitched at. She knew that her studio was the only decent one around Denver that didn't cost thousands of bucks a package, so the guy needed to be a little bit nicer.

Kagome stood and stretched for a minute. "Honestly, dude, you don't WANT me thinking while I'm taking the shot," she told him.

"And why's that?" the husband asked stiffly.

"Because art isn't ABOUT thinking," a male voice carried from the doorway to the lobby. Kagome and the family looked up to see Hojo standing there, a grin taking over his face. Kagome smiled at him but rolled her eyes. "You steal all my good lines," she told him in a mock-grumpy voice. His grin only widened.

'Actually,' Kagome thought as he left the doorway and went upstairs to wait for her. 'INUYASHA was always the one with the absolute BEST lines.'

Now that Kagome was seeing Hojo and opening herself back up to companionship and intimacy, she was beginning to find it harder and harder to deal without Inuyasha. 'I was perfectly fine when I had cut myself off from men and only took care of Shippo and my studio,' she went on thinking as she went back to photographing the family. But recently she'd begun dreaming about Inuyasha again. They were... wild, hard to contain.

There was one that seemed to stand out above the rest. In it, she'd come over to the apartment that he shared with Kikyo, and they'd talked. They'd sat together on the sofa and watched a show and laughed at it.

When the show was over, Kagome had stood and begun to - slowly - peel her clothes from her body. First, the top. It was a nice, wide-necked ballet top, a deep grey color, and it had long sleeves with holes poked through the cuffs at the ends for Kagome's thumbs to fit through.

Next, her jeans. They were a dark, indigo blue, and they were tight-legged and flared a little around the ankles. The waist of them hugged her hips perfectly. In order to extract said jeans from her legs, though, she needed to remove her black, high-heeled boots by unzipping them slowly. All the while, Inuyasha sat there on the sofa, already stripped to his tight-whities, watching her with bright, hungry eyes.

After that, she stood, almost completely nude before her lover, and he stood to remove the rest. He reached around her at an agonizing rate to unhook her bright yellow bra. Kagome heard the hook "snap!" but Inuyasha grabbed her breasts immediately, rubbing her nipples through the silk-like material before allowing the undergarment to fall away. Next he slid his large hands down along her thin waist before reaching for the bright yellow and white striped panties hugging onto her hips. He slid them down her sculpted thighs, removing them from her ankles as he tipped her over in his arms, lowering her to the living room floor with ease.

Once she was lying on her back on the tan carpet, he kissed her once, roughly, passionately. Then his mouth found the base of her neck, which, Inuyasha knew, was her favorite spot, and he lingered there for a moment, his ears perking at the sound of her small moans. His lips left her neck to focus on her breasts, and she arched her back a little as his tongue swept lightly over her right nipple, his fingers finding their way to her small nub of pleasure. As he stroked her clit with his finger and suckled on her nipple, Kagome writhed a little underneath him. After a few minutes, he switched over to the other breast and paid it plenty of attention.

She could feel her building orgasm, and as it released, she could feel her inner muscles clenching and rippling, and she bucked violently into his hand and moaned and gasped. Her first orgasm of the dream was so intense, it left her seeing stars for a few seconds. This gave Inuyasha plenty of time to strip himself completely nude, as he had Kagome.

Kagome was just coming down from the high of her orgasm when she felt Inuyasha fit himself between her spread legs and slide his thick erection into her slippery folds. Together, they moaned at how good it felt to be one again, and Inuyasha grasped her hips, pumping himself inside her at a slow, agonizing rate. He couldn't help it for long, though; soon, he sped up, and he was slamming himself deep inside her. The feel of her warm juices sliding along his stiff cock, her warmth and softness inside...

After only a few minutes like this, he slid himself out of her completely, and Kagome whimpered at the loss.

He whispered in her ear, "Get on all fours."

She did as he said, and she cried out loudly as she felt Inuyasha slide his member inside her with ease. He growled at the new feel of her tight, wet pussy, and he thrusted into her quickly. Kagome cried out again and again, begging him to go faster, to fuck her harder. He grabbed her shoulders and granted her wish, gritting his teeth at how amazing she felt from this angle.

He felt her orgasm ripple through the muscles of her pussy like a wave, clenching and tightening down around his cock, and he came himself, unable to stop it any longer.

'And that's where the dream always ends,' Kagome thought as she clicked the shutter one last time. Finally, her last appointment was finished for the day. When they were gone, Kagome hopped up the stairs, full of energy from her fantasy.

But when she saw Hojo waiting with Shippo, a little of that energy dissipated. She shook her head inwardly. 'He's just not the same.'

Inuyasha was tapping his fingers impatiently. Kikyo was already asleep in the bed in the next room, and he was sleeping on the sofa for the week. 'I can't wait for this damned rut to be over with!' he thought, his inner voice giving way to an audible growl escaping his lips. He was staying away from Kikyo; sure, it was nearly unbearable, but he could take it. After all, Kikyo may be his wife, but the bitch sure as hell wasn't his mate.

His mate was halfway across the world, probably letting some other guy fuck her brains out.

And the thought didn't hurt him. It didn't tear him in two, as the sappier men would've said.

It drove him so crazy he was almost seeing red.

Sango sat down beside her best friend on the sofa in the living room. "You know, Miroku and I have been officially moved out for a week and a half," she told Kagome. Kagome smiled at her, tearing her eyes from the television. Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law was on. Sango sighed. "And we took Shippo last night for a reason."

"So I would sleep with Hojo," Kagome said. It was a statement, not a question, and Sango stared at her friend.

"Exactly. So why didn't you invite him to stay over?"

"Sango," Kagome murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. The show kept going. "You know why."

They were both silent for a few minutes.

Then Sango looked Kagome right in the eye. "You don't want to get close to Hojo, do you?"

"It's not about Hojo," Kagome replied, shifting in her seat.

"I'm not asking the right question, am I?" Sango wanted to know.

Kagome didn't answer.

"You're still in love with Inuyasha, aren't you?"

Kagome stood and shut the tv off. "Good night, Sango," she told her best friend, leaving the room with her head hung a little.

Sango sighed, sitting alone in the dim light from the kitchen, and she thought, 'The question seems to have served as the answer.'

Next time:

Chapter 14: The Look in Her Eyes.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: The Look in Her Eyes

A/N: So. Me and Noah's dad are fighting... again. Sheesh, he and Inuyasha ARE a lot alike. They're both gorgeous, they both have bad tempers, and they can both be total and complete ASSHOLES. God, he drives me so.. Grr. Anyway! Here we GO!

Je t'aime avec tu mon coeur, et chaque fois que je ton va, je pretend que je tais bien.

Translation: I love you with all my heart, and every time I walk away, I pretend that I'm okay.

Chapter 14: The Look in Her Eyes.

A year passed. Shippo turned five three weeks before Kagome was supposed to marry Hojo.

She knew she shouldn't be doing this, but she didn't know what it was that was making her feel this way. She and Inuyasha had been broken up for five and a half years now; they hadn't spoken in that same amount of time.

Yet here she was, wearing one of the most magnificent dresses she'd ever laid eyes on, about to walk down the aisle... and she was still having second thoughts, mainly because her first thoughts were fully dedicated to that strange asshole of a man with the long mane of silver hair and the deep golden eyes filled with longing...

Sango popped in a few minutes before the wedding, Akiko held on her hip. The girl was a precious thing, exactly like her mother. The two were a sight, both wearing pretty, shimmery, light pink dresses. Sango had her hair set up on her head in a smooth, pretty bun with bobby pins, and she'd put Akiko's hair in short, black pigtails; they were so short, in fact, that they spiked at the ends.

"How are you doing?" she asked her best friend.

Kagome nodded, standing straight up and checking herself out in the mirror. She was wearing a silky, cream-colored dress; the straps were thin and criss-crossed over her back. The skirt was fairly long, reaching her ankles, and she'd refused to have a train put on it. Her heels were also cream-colored, and she'd left her hair down to hang in soft, wispy, dark curls on her shoulders and down her back. She wore very little makeup, going for a much more natural look.

She sighed, closing her eyes. "I'm doing," she murmured.

Sango nodded. "Ok," she said. "Well, I need to go change Akiko before the ceremony starts. It'll only be a few more minutes until we can get you down that aisle and standing at that altar." Sango grinned widely and gave a small, girlish squeal; Akiko giggled at the funny noises her mother was making.

After Sango disappeared out the door, Kagome turned and stared at herself, long and hard, in the mirror.

A knock came at the door. Kagome expelled the breath she was holding as the pressure in her chest built up even more. "Ok," she said, "I'm coming." She picked up the skirt of her dress and shuffled to the door, opening it.

Inuyasha's eyes twinkled as he looked her over, his usual smirk taking up residence on his handsome face. Kagome stopped dead in her tracks, whatever she was about to say dying in her throat. He was wearing the dismembered remains of tux; black trousers, shiny black shoes, white button-down shirt, black jacket, loosened black tie. They stood there, staring at each other, unspeaking until Kagome drew a breath and murmured his name: "Inuyasha."

She didn't ask why he was there. She didn't ask how he was or how he'd been. When he grabbed her face in his hands and pressed his lips against hers in a rough kiss, she could only moan into his mouth and stumble backward. Their eyes closed and their hands fumbled; Inuyasha slammed the dressing room door shut, and he backed Kagome up to the far wall, his palms and her back pressed flat against it.

His lips found the base of her neck, and she moaned loudly, her moan translating into his name. Hearing his name in her breathy voice once again lit a fire in his loins, and he shoved her up, snarling and growling and nipping at her throat as he pushed the skirt of her dress up, bunching it at her hips. He slid her panties down her long, smooth legs, and he undid his trousers with his other hand. His rock-hard erection popped out of his pants, and he touched the head to her wet entrance.

Kagome cried out loudly as he slid inside her. Inuyasha murmured incoherently into her throat, pressing his face into her warm, soft skin. She gripped his shoulders as he thrust deeper inside her. He called out her name, his voice rough and ragged as the cry and his orgasm was forced from his body: "Kagome!"

Kagome woke with a start, her eyes only needing a moment to adjust to the darkness. She was home, in her bedroom, Shippo fast asleep beside her and Hojo asleep on the other side of him. 'One of the benefits of a king-size bed,' she thought as she got up and, quietly, walked over into the bathroom. Shutting the door first, she turned the light on and leaned against the counter, over the sink. She was covered with sweat, and her hair clung to her back and her shoulders and her chest.

She looked down at her hand; it was shaking.

She sighed and held her face in her hands. "Inuyasha," she murmured sadly.

The next day, when Kagome stood at the altar with Hojo, Sango knew the look in her friend's eyes. There was a smile on her lips... but disappointment in her big, dark eyes.

Inuyasha Taisho sighed happily as he sank into the leather roller chair in his new, very spacious office. He was very pleased with himself; it was his first day in his new position. Sure, he was working for his older brother in the family business, but it beat Wacdonalds. He had a new apartment as well, and a new car. He and Kikyo had finally gotten their divorce moving.

And Inuyasha had a mate and a son to look forward to once it was finished.

A/N: *shakes head* Or so he thought.

Next time:

Chapter 15: The Lullaby


	15. Chapter Fifteen: The Lullaby

A/N: I know. Technically, it was a little over that, and it sucked that as soon as he started getting things together, I got with someone else. *sad face* But keep reading. It's looking up! *happy dance*

She can't tell me that all of the love songs have been written,  
'Cause she's never been in love with you before.  
Your skin smells lovely like sandalwood.  
Your hair falls soft like animals.  
I'm tryin' to keep cool, but everyone likes you.  
I want to kiss the back of your neck,  
The top of your spine where your hair hits,  
And gnaw on your fingertips and fall asleep,  
I'll talk you to sleep.  
But i'll be the one, i will have chosen.  
I'm tryin' to keep cool, but everyone here likes you  
I'm not the only one.  
Your skin smells lovely like sandalwood.  
Your hair falls soft like animals,  
And nothing else matters to me.  
She can't tell me that all of the love songs have been written,  
'Cause she's never been in love with you before.  
Your hand,  
So hot,  
Burns a hole in  
My hand.  
I wanted to show you.  
- Lisa Loeb, "Sandalwood."

Chapter 15: The Lullaby.

Shippo had always sort of wondered who it was that his mother and Sango argued about sometimes. The man was a bad man, he knew, from what both of them said, and his mother had been trying to forget about him for a long, long time. But, for some strange reason, she wouldn't, or she couldn't. He didn't know which.

His mother was a strong woman; he had respect for her. She was soft, too, and gentle; he hated the thought of anyone hurting her.

And he really didn't like this new guy, Hojo. Shippo wanted his mother to be happy, but he knew that this Hojo man couldn't do that.

And he was right.

Six months into their marriage, Hojo moved back out, Kagome demanding a divorce. He talked her into a "trial separation," whatever that meant. Shippo didn't care; he was just happy to have that man out of their home and have his mother all to himself once again. Sure, Sango and Kagome may have been right when they said he needed a father figure, but as far as Shippo was concerned, his mother was the only parent he really needed.

Things were going well after that. Kagome's business was booming; people everywhere were coming in to have gorgeous pictures taken by the outspoken photographer and her crazy friends. Shippo was glad for the new business; it meant more time for him to spend impressing his mom and less time for her to go out with Hojo, who, try as he might, could not repair the relationship.

Then, something went a little haywire.

When the man first walked in the door, Shippo thought nothing of it. He was dressed like a normal guy, a bright red t-shirt, blue jeans, and white and black sneakers. He had very long, silver hair, and his eyes were a bright, bright gold color. But when Shippo's mom rounded the corner into the lobby, she stopped right where she was and stared at him, a look of pure shock and horror on her face.

Shippo jumped at the expression on his mother's face, but he stayed where he was as she strode quickly across the room and slapped the man across the face. The man howled and grabbed his cheek, glaring at Kagome.

"What the hell?" he cried out.

She struck him again. "Hit me," she murmured, still staring at him.

"What?" he gasped, reeling from her request.

"I said hit me!" she yelled angrily, her face starting to turn a little red. "Pinch me! Something!"

The man pinched her arm.

Kagome stood still, staring at him incredulously. "Inuyasha," she mumbled.

Shippo's pup's ears pricked up when he heard the name. 'Inuyasha,' he thought. 'That's the name of the mean man Sango doesn't like.' He turned and headed for the stairs, knowing just what would get this intruder out of their life.

Kagome threw herself into Inuyasha's arms, laughing happily. "I'm so glad you're here!"

He grinned, squeezing her tight. "I'm glad to be here," he told her. He pulled back to look at her once again. "Damn, woman, it's just too good to see you again. I missed everything about you! You're eyes, your smile, your laugh, your SCENT! EVERYTHING." He hugged her again.

"Oi!"

They both looked to the stairs. Sango stood there, glowering, Miroku trying to hold her back, and Shippo standing by, grinning at the sight.

Sango stalked forward, ignoring her husband, who also held Akiko in his arms. The toddler just blinked at the sight before her, not understanding. "Inuyasha," Sango growled, her voice deep and unforgiving. The hanyou blinked at her. "Hey, Sango," he said. He looked at his best friend. "Hey, Miroku."

Miroku smiled at him. "Hey, Yash. What's up, man?"

"Nothing. Reuniting with my mate, is all."

"Cool, cool."

"MATE?" Sango and Kagome cried out simultaneously. Sango huffed, and Kagome stepped forward. "Whoa there, buddy," she said, putting both hands flat on Inuyasha's chest.

She paused for a moment, her eyes glazing a little as some of her fantasies came rushing back to mind. Then she shook her head and stepped back, away from him, and he almost whimpered at the loss of her scent in his nostrils.

When he looked up into her deep, chocolatey eyes, the look held in them was strong, determined.

"I left you, Inuyasha, six years ago," she mumbled.

He watched her, his amber eyes intense. "And you took my son with you. OUR son."

Shippo gasped.

Kagome and Inuyasha both turned their heads to look at him.

The pup stepped forward. "YOU'RE my father?" he asked Inuyasha, staring at him incredulously. Kagome nodded as Inuyasha just stared at the boy, who blinked. "At least it's not Hojo," he said, and Kagome sighed, knowing of her son's very low opinion of her current husband.

"Wait," Inuyasha said, looking back and forth from his mate and his son. "Who the hell is Hojo?"

Miroku stepped back, hiding behind his wife a little. Kagome sighed and crossed her arms over her breast. "He's my husband," she told him.

"Her soon-to-be EX-husband," Sango chimed in. Kagome shot her a look.

Inuyasha turned to glare at Sango's husband. "Miroku, you never told me she was seeing anyone new!" At his words, Kagome turned to glare, shocked, at Miroku also. Sango turned and smacked him, yanking the baby out of his arms. "You baka! You hentai! You asshole! You bastard!" As she chased him up the stairs, she continued hitting him in the head, calling him every curse word and insulting name in her vocabulary.

Kagome shook her head. "Shippo, your father and I need to talk some things out. Why don't you go upstairs and play with Kenji for awhile?"

The boy was about to argue, but the look on his mother's face made him stop still. She had this strange look of resolve that he had not seen there for quite some time. And... a hint of relief at the sight of Shippo's estranged father? Shippo only nodded and turned, heading up the stairs after Sango. But he didn't go upstairs; he hid at the top, by the door, and listened to his parents talking. 'Strange,' he thought with a small, pleased smile. 'I've never had parents before. Just Mom.'

For the first few minutes, both were silent. Kagome paced a little, and Inuyasha just stood and watched her, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"I'm sorry for leaving the way I did," Kagome started.

Inuyasha nodded. "It's all right. I forgave you a long time ago. I mean, yea, I was pissed for a little while about the whole running off with my child thing - By the way, how pregnant WERE you when you left?" he asked.

Kagome sighed and smiled a little. "I was about four months," she answered.

He whistled. "Wow," he said.

She nodded, chuckling a little. "Yea," she went on, "it explains why I was so moody and upset with you all of the time."

They were silent for a few minutes more. Inuyasha smiled at her for no apparent reason. "You know," he said. "I figured I'd lost you. When you moved out here, I mean. To this place." He walked around the lobby, looking around at some of the pictures set out on the endtables, the stills hung on the walls. He stopped at one, a silhouette of the box office in the theater.

He exhaled loudly. "I remember that one."

She stepped up to stand beside him. They observed it, together, silent, for only a moment. "I was so proud of it," Kagome murmured. "One of my best, that first year of photography prerequisites."

Inuyasha turned his head and looked down at her. She was so small and pretty, his Kagome. Her long, wavy, ebony hair fell down her shoulders and back in wisps, contrasting rather sharply with the cream-colored sweater she was wearing. Her jeans hugged her thin legs perfectly, and they were a dark shade of indigo. She wore black, high-heeled boots and tiny, little voodoo men hung from her ears.

The feel of her lips burned hot on his own. Images flashed in his mind right then; skin on skin, tongues dancing, hair between his fingers.

He reached over and brushed her long hair behind her shoulder. "You know, after six long years, I still remember how good you taste..." Inuyasha leaned in to kiss her, and she stepped away.

"Inuyasha," she said. "I'm still married."

He nodded. "I'm not anymore." He pulled something out of his pocket, and Shippo realized it was a card. 'Nice,' he thought. Inuyasha handed it to Kagome, who looked at it a moment. "Please remember, Kagome. Call me if you - OR Shippo - need anything." He stopped as he opened the door. "I mean, ANYTHING." And the door swung shut, the bell ringing faintly. Shippo watched as his mother stood there, leaning against the counter, staring down at the business card. He watched as she turned and opened a drawer in the desk behind the counter, dropping the card in and shutting it gently.

Shippo didn't quite understand what was going on when Sango and Miroku came rushing up the stairs one day, grabbing things and telling him to hurry. Miroku grabbed up Akiko and her diaper bag while Sango hurried Kenji and Shippo to get dressed. When they asked what was going on, Sango told them in a rushed voice, "Kagome was hurt in a car accident. We have to hurry up to the hospital."

Shippo paled. He ran downstairs, Sango, Kenji, Miroku, and Akiko chasing after him. He threw the drawer of the desk open, remembering the card held inside. He found it, recognizing the name: Inuyasha Taisho. He blinked for a second, staring at it. "We have the same last name."

Sango scooped him up and ran with him out the door, barely remembering to lock the front door as they loaded into the car and drove off.

When they arrived at the hospital, no one could really tell them anything. As Sango and Miroku balanced their two kids and argued with the nurses and doctor, Shippo found the nearest pay phone and dropped in a couple quarters and dialed the number on the card.

A sleepy voice answered the cell. "Hello?"

"Inuyasha?"

"Yes?"

Shippo shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Dad!" he yelled. "Wake up!"

That seemed to get Inuyasha's attention. "Shippo?" he asked. "Pup, what's wrong?"

"It's Mom! Sango says there was an accident. These stupid doctors aren't saying anything-"

"Hang on there, boy," he mumbled, pulling a pair of jeans on. It had been less than a week since his encounter with Kagome at the studio; he was still staying in town, scouting the area. Sesshomaru had said that since he was going to visit his honey, he might as well look for a good spot to set up shop.

Inuyasha got to the hospital as fast as he could. Shippo jumped to his feet when he saw him, and Inuyasha ruffled his hair, a strangely comforting gesture to the boy. Hojo was there as well, demanding to see his "wife." The doctor was arguing with him when  
Inuyasha pushed past both of them and headed straight into the room, locking the door behind him.

Kagome was awake, but she was groggy. She smiled very gently at her baby daddy. "I flipped my car," she mumbled. Inuyasha grabbed the chart hanging at the foot of the bed and flipped through it, scanning. "Broken arm, concussion, possible further head trauma..." he murmured, his eyes running over the information. He set the chart to the side and sat down on the side of the bed, taking her hand in his.

"My poor baby," he whispered.

He leaned forward, collecting her in his arms. She was way too drugged to fight him. He held her and hummed gently in her ear. It was a lullaby his own mother had hummed to him, and Kagome perked her head up a little through the haze at the sound of it. "Hey," she mumbled. "I've heard this before. I hummed it to Shippo when he was small and afraid."

Inuyasha smiled, holding his mate closer. "That's my girl."

A/N: Wow, am I tired. This one was a long one, but one of the best days of my life. Well, minus the whole wrecking my car and getting a giagantic bump on my head.  
P.S. DemonGoddess? You're really weird. And, please, no more reviews about stupid, nitpicky technical errors. I am here to write and to convey a meaningful and hopefully pleasing tale. And I have no idea how I could receive payment for such a tale, which is technically my own. I have a job; I do this for fun. Don't see how stating the obvious at the beginning of every chapter is going to make much difference. Any questions? Good. Also: update on the ch. 2 sitch. thing is, i keep trying to edit the chapter, and the chapter's THERE, just hidden. I'll probably move it over with ch. 3.  
Next time:

Chapter 16: The New Life, the Good Life.


	16. Chapter Sixteen: The New Life

A/N: Ok, well, me and "Inuyasha" broke up. For good. We're just not working out. But I think I'll give myself a happy ending here. *fake smile* But he's going to be here for Noah. There's that, at least. I think he'll be a good father for my boy.

So. We shall continue "The Affair."

You're a part-time lover and a full-time friend.  
I don't see what anyone could see  
In anyone else  
But you.

- The Moldy Peaches, "Anyone Else But You."

Chapter 16: The New Life, the Good Life.

Kagome stretched as much as her body would allow, but she stopped and smiled when she felt her foot graze an unfamiliar leg. She turned over, careful of her casted arm, and gazed at the snoozing hanyou laying in the bed beside her. Kagome snuggled her head into Inuyasha's bare chest. He shifted a little, making a sighing noise.

The hospital had released Kagome just the day before, after keeping her there for a week for observation. They determined that there was no brain damage, just a mild concussion and an enormous bump. They put her arm in a cast and sling and sent her home with some painkillers, telling her to take it easy. She invited Inuyasha to stay with her and Shippo for a while. The night before had been their first night sleeping in the same bed since Kagome left Japan.

Inuyasha opened his eyes and watched her. She lifted her hand up and started drawing swirls and writing words on his flat stomach. He smiled and chuckled, his chest bouncing and rumbling. She giggled softly, closing her eyes and taking it all in. "This is amazing," she mumured, kissing his chest. "I keep thinking that I'm about to open my eyes and wake up alone."

He laughed. "Same here," he said.

Suddenly, they heard the thunder of small feet running against the hardwood floors. Kagome giggled and dived under the blankets; Inuyasha watched her, sitting up and asking, "What the hell, koi?"

Shippo sprang out of nowhere, landing gracefully on the bed with a triumphant look on his face. "Dad!" he yelled. "It is SO great to find you in here with Mom instead of stupid old Hojo!" He made a disgusted face. Inuyasha laughed at his son and ruffled the boy's hair. He blinked when he found the pup's ears, and then he laughed again at his surprise.

Kagome had gotten out of the bed and was starting to dress. She smiled at her two boys. "Inuyasha, why don't you take Shippo to the park or the zoo? I'm sure the two of you could use some male bonding time." She made a soft laugh.

Her mate got out of the bed and stood there beside it in his boxers. "And what will you do today?"

"I have to run down to the courthouse before we open, and then I've got two appointments," she told him. "It's getting close to graduation time around here."

He nodded and looked at Shippo. "So, runt, which one do you feel like? The park or the zoo?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really care. I've been to both with Mom, like, a GAZILLION times." He looked at his mother meaningfully, which pulled yet another surprised laugh from Inuyasha. He hadn't expected his son to be so welcoming of him; it was almost as though he had always been here for them. 'Which, to a point, I was,' he thought. 'I just wasn't HERE here.'

Inuyasha agreed to take Shippo to both the park and the zoo, and he sent to boy off to get dressed.

With their son out of the room, Inuyasha took the opportunity awaiting him. Kagome had disappeared into the bathroom to take a shower, and he followed slyly, his long dormant mischeivous side getting the better of him once more. Without knocking or waiting for an invitation, he slid quietly into the running shower, coming to stand right behind his bathing mate.

She was a truly magnificent sight, he thought as he surveyed her. He loved the sight of her completely nude body; her long, slim yet muscular legs. Her soft, olive skin; he could practically feel the warmth radiating from her. Her wet, raven hair was stuck to her back with moisture, and it gleamed and shined in the fluorescent bathroom light.

Kagome turned right then, licking her lips, and she smirked at her mate. "Inuyasha," she said, her tone a little reproachful. When he didn't meet her gaze, she looked down, realizing that he was caught up in the sight of her naked breasts. She stood there under the running water for a minute before finally taking his chin and pulling his eyes up to meet her own. He grinned sheepishly, flushing a light pink. "I'm sorry," he murmured, but she only kissed him.

"It's all right," she told him, and he leaned in for another kiss. It started off small, as most kisses do, but it quickly deepened. Kagome moaned loudly into Inuyasha's mouth as she felt his tongue graze over hers, and he grasped her shoulders roughly, pulling her into his embrace.

Suddenly, there was banging on the door, and Shippo was yelling, "Hey, Mom! Dad disappeared again!"

The pair broke apart almost instantly, and Inuyasha silently thanked the gods that he had thought to lock the door behind him. Kagome giggled. "Don't worry, babe!" she called back to him. "Just... go downstairs and look around the studio for him! I'll be out in a minute to help you look!"

"Okay!" They listened as the thunder of the boy's footsteps faded into the rest of the building.

Kagome turned and shut off the shower, smiling at Inuyasha's disappointed grunts. "Aw! C'mon, Kagome! A quickie! Just gimme fifteen minutes!"

"He's just as fast as you are, Inuyasha!" she replied with a hint of exasperation in her tone. "Besides, I REALLY need to make it to the courthouse." She started to pull her clothes back on. After a moment of intense glaring, her mate joined her, pulling on a pair of his blue jeans.

"What do you need to do at the courthouse anyway?"

"File for a divorce," she shot back. "Duh." That earned her another glare as he shoved his muscular upper body into a t-shirt.

"So you haven't even FILED yet?"

That was when Kagome turned and gave him a look from hell. "How long was I in a relationship when YOU were married, eh, Inuyasha?" she demanded to know, poking him hard in the chest. He made a grumpy face, taking a step back and rubbing the spot where she'd poked him. "I get your point. I just..." He sighed, unable to put into words this feeling he had now when he looked at her and thought of her being married to another man.

She leaned against the sink, the plastic still wrapped around her casted arm. "You're just a little jealous, aren't you?" she asked him.

He scoffed, rolling his eyes and stepping to the door. "I'm much more than a little jealous, woman," he retorted. Inuyasha looked her up and down, and he gave her a small, gentle smile. "You're a lot of woman. Not just any man can give you the treatment you deserve." He twisted the knob and pulled on the door, finding Shippo standing on the other side, tapping one foot impatiently.

"I KNEW it," he said, glaring at them.

Kagome and Inuyasha looked at each other and busted out into loud laughter.

Two years after that, when Shippo ws eight, Kagome and Inuyasha finally tied the knot. It was a small ceremony; Kagome's mother and little brother flew in from Japan, as did Sesshomaru and Rin. Sango, Miroku, Kenji, and Akiko made it, of course, as did the newly married couple, Ayame and Kouga. Inuyasha joked about inviting Kikyo, but he stopped once Kagome smacked his arm hard enough.

Ten years passed. Kagome's business flourished, and Inuyasha helped her with it, doing mostly behind-the-scenes computer work. He taught Shippo a lot of it.

Things were going very well for the little family. Shippo grew into a heathly, well-adjusted young man, despite some teasing in his younger years over his mixed breeding, but a few calls to the superintendent of the school district and the other parents helped with that. He played football and soccer, and he was in the top ten percent of his graduating class. He was going to be going off to college that fall...

But then that day happened.

It had begun normal enough. Inuyasha had cooked a masterful breakfast for his small family; it was a Tuesday, two weeks since Shippo's high school graduation. The pup sat across the table from his mother, who was asking him some very personal questions while she continued eating.

"She's busy that night, Mom," the quarter-demon told her, his cheeks turning a little red.

Kagome gave her son an exasperated look. Shippo wondered for a moment, 'Does she know she's talking to me right now and not Dad?' "Look," she said to Shippo, "I just think that it's about time we met this girl. How long have you been seeing Ari?"

Shippo looked away from her, chewing on a slice of bacon. "About seven months now," he replied honestly.

"I think seven months is plenty of time to prepare her for the parental interrogation," Inuyasha told his son from where he stood by the stove, still making pancakes.

"But, see, that's just it, Dad!" Shippo said, getting a little aggravated. "It shouldn't BE an interrogation! I really like Ari!"

Inuyasha held his hands up as Kagome stood and took her empty plate to the sink. She started the water running and began to wash the grease off the plate. She smiled at her mate as he stepped toward Shippo. "Look, son," he said.

But he didn't get a chance to finish. The two men heard a crash, and Inuyasha spun, Shippo leaping to his feet. Kagome lay sprawled on the floor, the broken plate on the floor beside her.

dum Dum DUM!!! Cliffhangerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. See, I no good at them. But it seems to be the crazy trend with authors these days, so I figure, what the hell?

More later:

Chapter 17: The Decision.


	17. Chapter Seventeen: The Good News

A/N: This was originally the chapter where Kagome died.

But she's now going to stay alive!! And why, do you ask?

SURPRISE!!!!

Comparisons are easily done  
Once you've had a taste of perfection.  
Like an apple hanging from a tree,  
I picked the ripest one,  
I still got the seed...  
...You're like an Indian summer  
In the middle of winter.  
Like a hard candy  
With a surprise center.  
How do I get better  
Once I've had the best.  
You said there's tons of fish in the waters  
So the waters I will test...  
...Oh won't you walk through  
And bust in the door  
And take me away.  
Oh no more mistakes  
Cause in your eyes I'd like to stay.

- Katy Perry, "Thinking of You"

Chapter 17: The Good News.

Inuyasha had tried to take things slowly. When he turned around and saw Kagome's limp body sprawled on the floor, he took a moment - only a moment - to absorb the situation and try to think his actions through. He remembered seeing Shippo dive for his unconscious mother. After that things started to move very slowly, as if they were in slow-motion. Inuyasha vaguely remembered grabbing the phone off the handset and punching the three buttons embedded into everyone's mind from the age of three: 911.

"Hello?" he said to the operator when he heard the cool, female voice answer. "Hello, this is Inuyasha Taisho. I'm calling from 371 Redwood; my wife, she collapsed." He couldn't really register what she was saying. "She just... collapsed. There was a crash..." He took a deep breath, trying to alleviate the strong sense of dizziness that was threatening to overwhelm him. "Look, could you just get an ambulance out here? NOW?" He hung up and tossed the phone down on the dining room table, breaking the plate that Shippo had been eating off.

He knelt down on his knees on the other side of Kagome. Two pairs of panicked, golden eyes stared into each other.

"It'll be all right," Inuyasha told his son. "Mom will be okay."

Shippo stared at his father. "You're a really bad liar, Dad," he whispered.

Inuyasha sank back, sitting on the floor beside his wife. He ran his fingers through his long, silvery hair, and he sighed, thinking. "I don't know what's going to happen, son," he replied. "I really don't know."

The ride to the hospital was a long one; Inuyasha drove Shippo in their car, following the ambulance. Along the way, Shippo made frantic phone calls to Sango and Miroku, and Inuyasha called Sesshomaru and Rin. When they arrived to the hospital, Rin and Sesshomaru were packing and about to board a plane to America, and Sango and Miroku were already waiting there with Kenji and Akiko. Kenji hugged Shippo; the two boys were still like brothers, and they'd graduated together recently. Akiko still had another year of high school left, but she was just like a younger sister to Shippo. She hugged him also, and he gave her a tight squeeze, thankful that his "siblings" could be there for him.

Sango and Miroku comforted Inuyasha as they waited.

Later that evening, Rin and Sesshomaru came dashing around the corner at practically the same moment the doctor came up to the waiting families. Inuyasha hugged his little sister-in-law tightly; she kissed his cheek comfortingly. Sesshomaru gave his brother a quick bear hug, asking, "Have they got any news?"

Inuyasha gestured to the doctor, who was waiting near Kagome's door with a small, uncomfortable smile. Sesshomaru made a surprised noise and nodded, stepping back. "Of course," he murmured.

Inuyasha walked over to speak with the doctor. The man was older, about mid-sixties, complete with grey, thinning hair combed over to one side, wise, bright blue eyes that twinkled like stars, and a wrinkled smile that was meant to be comforting. Inuyasha vaguely wondered if this was around what he should look like; he was a good seventy, eighty years old about now.

"Good evening, Mr. Taisho," the man greeted him, shaking his hand. Inuyasha smiled grimly when he noticed the ring on the doctor's ring finger. "How are you doing?"

"I'd be doing a helluva lot better if I knew what was happening to my wife," he shot at the doctor, regretting it almost instantly. He sighed. "I'm very sorry, sir. I'm just... stressed, to say the least."

The doctor smiled brightly, which reassured Inuyasha a little. "Well, Mr. Taisho, I have some good news for you. It would seem that Mrs. Taisho has only suffered a minor fainting spell, which occurs more commonly than you would think with pregnant women her age-"

Inuyasha sputtered suddenly at his words. "P-Pr-Pregnant?!"

Shippo was at his father's side in the blink of an eye. "Mom's pregnant?! I'm getting a little brother?"

The doctor chuckled. "Or sister," he said to the pup, and then he patted Inuyasha on the shoulder and walked away. Right after he'd turned the corner, the door to Kagome's room opened, and the woman in question stepped out. When Inuyasha laid eyes on his wife, he could swear she glowed. He grabbed her up in a tight squeeze, and she giggled into his ear, wrapping her arms instinctively around his neck. The hanyou set his woman down gently on her feet, and he nuzzled the base of her throat appreciatively. "Gods, woman, do you KNOW what kind of a scare you gave us?" he asked her.

She paled a little as she looked around and noticed the entourage her husband had waiting for her outside the door. "Oh my," she murmured, blushing a little as Rin and Sango both barrelled into her. Inuyasha snarled at the sudden jostling of his pregnant wife. Miroku just stood back, smirking, and Sesshomaru gave his small wife a disapproving look.

"I am so sorry!" Kagome cried out, hugging onto her two gal pals. "I really didn't mean to go scaring the whole family!"

"Oh, you did not such thing, Kagome!" Miroku laughed.

"It was Inuyasha who did the scaring," Sesshomaru told her in his usual cool tone.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru exchanged glares. Kagome giggled at the normalcy of all this.

"Well, since everyone's all here and together and perfectly heathly, let's get some grub," she said. Inuyasha smiled at her and nodded in agreement. "Besides," she went on, hooking arms with her mate. "We have something to celebrate."

Things went on as normal. Kagome's pregnancy went very well; a couple months later, she was starting to get pretty big, and Inuyasha was starting to get pretty excited. He hadn't been around for his mate's first pregnancy, and he was determined to be here beside her for every minute of it.

He thought about this as he grimaced at the sounds of her vomiting. It was four in the morning; her morning sickness was so loud and awful-sounding, his ears had to flatten themselves against his head to try to drown out the sounds of it. 'Pregnancy is strange,' he thought. Kagome normally hated ramen, yet here she was, shoveling it into her mouth day and night. She had hot flashes and cold flashes, and the mood swings were even more unpredictable than she was normally. Inuyasha loved his mate, loved her dearly, and he was ecstatic about receiving another child.

But he'd been kind of excited to have the alone time with his mate once Shippo had moved off to college in Denver. The boy was living on the campus now; he was an engineering major, much to his mother's chagrin. His girlfriend Ari had moved with him; she had also finally come over for dinner and to meet the parents.

All in all, things were still going great.

Then Inuyasha heard Kagome heave once more, and he shook his head.

A/N: I know, I know! I'm so damn wishy-washy! But I didn't really want to end it badly like that, and Bobby actually chided me over the whole thing; we're both natural-born writers, and he tsked me half to death when he read the sad ending.

Oh, and we're living together now! *explodes with excitement* Oh, and I went to see the doctor this morning. My eggo is really preggo! We're having another baby! And Noah, obviously, is freaking out, he is so excited.

*sighs happily* These are the best days of my life.

Next up:

Chapter 18: The New Kid in the Bed.


End file.
